Karakura's Cougar
by Estantia
Summary: The first odd thing was the vanishing hollows, the second odd thing was when it stopped and the third odd thing was the appearance of a cougar that no-one could explain. Set pre Hueco Mundo arc.
1. Karakura Red

Here we go, Estantia here with the first chapter of a multi-chaptered fic rather than a one shot (for once) with the Bleach guys. Standard disclaimer: don't own Bleach, would I REALLY be posting on if I was?

Note about the story. I do tend to alternate between the english (Captain, Yes) and Japanese (Taicho, hai) a bit, if there IS a pattern behind it, then the japanese is normally slips out when the character would naturally use it, or with the 'hai', when people *cough* Matsumoto *cough* are being flippant.

Hope you enjoy!

* * *

It's strange really. No matter what I see things still manage to surprise me from time to time. Generally they're things on a normal scale though, I'm used to seeing monsters, spirits and elementary school kids obliterating everything, so most stuff doesn't phase me, even the sheer lengths of pervertedness a stuffed animal can go to.

There had been hints in the last few days of someone else sorting out Hollows, or rather, Hollows appearing, then disappearing before we could get to them. It wasn't that fast, but that idiot they put in charge of regular duties said he hadn't done them, apparently we were both assuming the other had been taking care of it, stupid huh? That's why it took us so long to work out there was a third party in there.

We didn't know if it was friend or foe though, so we needed to check it out somehow. All we could do really was keep our eyes and ears open to get to a hollow sighting as soon as we could, pity they never showed up when we did.

Okay, so we maybe we didn't try that hard to find them. They appeared mostly when we were busy, so it was helpful, I mean the few times I got alerts in schools I didn't immediately need to rush up and get out, so I actually got some school time in for a change.

We just told everyone to keep an eye out, and it worked... sort of... well we had a glimpse of her at any rate.

Orihime had been completely out of it after school one day, she barely even noticed a hollow emerging in a park a block over. When she DID notice she ran over there as fast as she could, just in time to see a gold and brown blur sweep one arm upwards, slicing the hollow through the middle before jumping away to the side and vanishing. All Orihime could report was the fact it had been humanoid at least and reminded her of the overcoats the Captains wore, except that this one was plain gold.

I don't like people who disappear without a trace. They generally mean trouble.

-Renji. Why do I have to write this down for you anyway Urahara-san? And what's with the overly dramatic end?

-You'll see ^_^

-Why do I get nervous whenever you say something like that...?

* * *

Karin absently juggled the football from one foot to the other as she walked, watching it spin through the air with practised ease until something blotted the light for an instant. With a flick the football was back in her arms and she was looking at the sky. _Nothing? Weird..._

"Oh for hell's sake you can't do that now!"

The younger Kurosaki looked towards the tree-ringed park curiously and paused as the woman's voice spoke again, though quieter this time.

"Look, can't you just leave it? I haven't even met any of them yet."

Now Karin was curious and crept to where she could peek round the outermost tree. Then she plain stared. A woman in a long gold coat seemed to be glaring at a dinosaur in an outsized clown bubble with a propeller underneath.

_How on earth does that thing stay in the air?_

"Your own fault for being slow," its voice sounded gravelly, the woman didn't seem phased by the thing though.

"This world needs time, these guys are suspicious so it's not like I can just walk in," she pointed out, "and I can't afford to be seen or act crazily, so what about an agreement?"

Karin wondered what the strange woman was talking about, but it seemed the dinosaur was almost as confused before she spoke again. "Skip the first stage, but don't fight it so the Shift lasts longer? It would be nice if I could have some rudimentary abilities..."

"You're pushing it..."

The woman sighed slightly, long brown hair shifting as she looked back up at the dinosaur. "Fine, just do it."

The dinosaur cackled as his hover-thing rose and he pulled out a wand, taking careful aim before letting off a blast of crackling energy, forming a large globe with a shape inside. The woman attempted to brace herself but it still sent her sprawling as it formed a dome around her, looking like a soap bubble that the woman was caught inside.

Karin started forward as the dome's colours started to swirl dizzyingly, forcing her to sit down again when the woman's body started to reflect those patterns, as if she had turned to marbled water inside her outlines.

Then the outlines themselves started to shrink, pulling in on themselves to settle into a smaller form. At this point the girl stood and walked forward, covering her eyes so that she wouldn't get dizzy again.

When she was a few paces from where the dome began she stopped, uncovering her eyes slightly to check that the swirling had finished before she moved again. However whatever the dome had been it was gone, and the woman with it.

Karin blinked at the space for a few seconds and then straightened. Maybe she should mention this to the Karakura rangers? Or Ichigo? But then they would fuss and insist on looking for the person, or in Ichigo's sake call her a liar and she hated that. Mind you, they'd all think she was crazy if she described who the woman had been talking to,

_I mean a dinosaur in a flying clown eggcup? Like hell...._

She still wondered what the woman had meant by second stage though, and what exactly had happened to her, had they really been turned into something else?

Karin smirked, _Now THIS is a job for a true Karakura Red!_


	2. Riatwhat?

Heya, Estantia here again with the next chapter. I don't know if anyone's actually read this, but here's hoping :P It would be nice if I got some feedback though, especially about chapter length. *hint hint*

I'm going to be updating this every saturday, so keep an eye out for the next chapter from the bleachverse-I'll-never-own. Enjoy!  
- Estantia

* * *

"I don't get it," Renji said with a frown, spinning a chopstick idly around his fingers, "There haven't been any random instances of hollows being taken out for days, do we assume it was just a random thing or what?"

"It sounds more like Orihime got a bit too close for comfort," Urahara replied, setting his own chopsticks beside his empty bowl. "They've probably just gone to hiding for a bit, if they come back then they come back, until then we just have to wait."

"I'd rather we try and find them ourselves," Jinta muttered, "then we could show them who's really in charge!"

"Then how would we get the information from them, dimwit?" Renji responded. It was amazing how dinner always turned into a verbal sparring match for those two. Urahara listened to the argument for a while before standing and crossing to the main shop, leaving the door open a crack and settling himself at the counter ready for when the shop bell chimed.

"Why hello! So nice to see you Yuzu..."

This sentence had precisely the effect he'd planned, one boy immediately rushing out to talk to the light haired girl who'd just entered the shop. What WAS slightly surprising was the fact that the dark haired twin had accompanied her in. Normally she hung around outside.

The reason for this was soon revealed when Karin (keeping an eye on her sister) wandered over to Urahara and sat down, the picture of boredom with chin propped on hands.

"Not looking for an argument over who's Red?" he asked with a slightly raised eyebrow.

"Nah, I'm going to PROVE I'm better than that idiot," Karin commented, "I even know how, but I dunno where to start."

She really didn't seem her normal self, maybe she was maturing? Gods help anyone who had to deal with Isshin when that happened. He dragged his thoughts back on topic.

"Maybe chatting to someone else about it would help?"

"I dunno." Karin looked at the shopkeeper in his weird hat, wondering briefly why he wore it inside before she returned to thinking. Well he had two of the Karakura people in his house, not to mention that red-haired idiot who always hung round her brother and the fact they'd both come here so often. All these people with abilities converged on this place, he had to be of some help, right?

"Say if you wanted to find someone, but you've only seen them once and you're not entirely sure what they look like, how would you do it?"

Interesting question... Urahara propped his ever-present fan under his nose in thought. Seen a person only once and wanted to find them again? She wasn't the type to chase after random boys, and this was connected to being Karakura Red? Sounded like he should keep an eye on what Karin was looking for, Isshin would never forgive him if his darling daughter got in trouble, but at the same time, she might find something useful.

"I'd go back to where I saw them and try to figure out which way they left, and if anyone else saw them do so. How long ago was this anyway?"

"Thanks for the advice Mister!" Karin seemed much more focussed now as she stood up and ran to Yuzu, briefly coming up with an excuse about homework left at school and a warning for Jinta to keep his hands OFF her sister before she left.

_Yup_, Urahara thought as he started fanning himself, _she's onto something_.

Meanwhile Renji was thoroughly bored in the room behind. "Dammit, why is there always nothing to do after dinner on Thursdays?" Renji muttered, more to himself than anything as he flicked between television channels, "times like this I almost wish some hollow would turn up..."

"But then you would have to get out of your gigai, and you always complain when that happens," Ururu pointed out quietly, "Can we watch the news? Tessai likes it."

With a glance at the large man, who nodded in agreement Renji made a disgusted noise and the picture settled on a young woman, the picture showing the immediately recognisable face of Don Kanonji.

"...and so it seems the hit tv series of Spirit hunter is going to stay near the Karakura area, at least for the time being."

"I see enough of that guy in real life, I don't need to see him on the tv too..." The red-head muttered before the picture changed to that of a zookeeper.

"For our next report there have been reported sightings of a cougar in and around the city area, but the zoo reports no missing cougars, lionesses or any big cats from their selection. This means that the cat may have wandered from another zoo or was kept as part of a private collection. The police are asking the residents of Karakura town to keep an eye out, if you DO see the animal get inside and out of its way, then contact the authorities to tell them where you saw it."

"Huh, like I'd be afraid of a cougar..."

"They're just trying to help all the people who can't defend themselves as well as we can," Ururu pointed out in that quiet voice of hers. Renji sighed. Honestly, you couldn't even be bad tempered in this house, the kid_ guilted_ you out of it.

"A rogue cougar? Sounds interesting," came the light voice of the shop owner, re-entering the room, "and you really shouldn't be so harsh to them Renji, it's not like they can help it..."

"Oh not you too," Renji muttered with a glare before he pushed himself to his feet, "I'm going to go for a walk and maybe do some soul burials, it's got to be better than being told off by every living creature in a 5 mile radius..."

"Doesn't that include most of Karakura town?"

The 6th squad's lieutenant didn't bother dignifying that with an answer, simply pulling out of his body and shooting off. At least the cool air didn't ask him to do anything or be anything.

It didn't take too long for his bad temper to wear off, in fact by the time he spotted a certain black-haired Kurosaki he was almost feeling cheerful. Except of course the girl reminded him of her brother and his affinity to get into trouble, not to mention she was standing in a stink of riatsu.

_What has that girl done now?_ He found himself thinking irritably as he dropped down to one of the trees surrounding the park. After a few moments he blinked, this didn't smell like riatsu, nor did it feel like Karin, so why was the girl drawn here?

Suddenly there was a surge of energy, the soul reaper turning abruptly to see a masked monster scuttle round the corner, sniffing with a nose that seemed like an elongated rat despite the fact it had six scampering legs rather than the usual four. With barely a blink he jumped forwards, unsheathing his sword to slash at it in one smooth movement.

Unfortunately the hollow was faster than it looked, presumably due to the extra legs, and managed to only get a nick in the mask. It was enough to divert its attention from the strange not-riatsu, the thing's eyes glittering as its hide rippled, forming several little scurrying creatures.

Damn it! He'd forgotten the girl! A quick glance back over his shoulder revealed that the stupid thing hadn't run either! Instead she was.... getting out a football?

With a solid kick the ball shot away from her and curved a path of destruction through the group of smaller rats, the cries of pain from them making the larger hollow whip its head round.

Using that instant of distraction Renji lunged, blade slicing neatly through the mask as if it was just a target dummy. With a screech of anguish the Hollow dropped, all the parts of it dissolving into nothing as Renji turned to watch what the Kurosaki girl would do. Rangiku had mentioned something about getting introduced to the girl after a hollow fight, and from that kick she'd been able to see the little things at least.

"Hey, kid," he said, sliding his sword back into the sheath, "why're you here instead of watching over your sister like usual?"

The girl looked up with a raised eyebrow, "None of your business,"

So she could see and hear him. Well she was Ichigo's sister... "Look kid, I'm not saying you're too young or anything, but if I hadn't been here you'd have been toast! If you're going to keep on looking for trouble..." This seemed to have little to no effect as she just rolled her eyes.

"If you're going to harp on at me about being too young just stop it now, it isn't like I haven't heard it all before, and it's not like you'll ever think a _kid_ can do anything or find anything important."

"Like a weird riatsu?"

"Ri... riatwhat?"

"Ri-at-su, spirit pressure, you know, that thing everyone has?" he said slowly and patronizingly, "Geez, if you're going to act all grown up you should at least know the right words!"

"Well I can't help it if I haven't been chosen to join your group Mister-High-and-Mighty!" she answered, fuming, "I can't help it if no-one tells me anything!"

Renji simply glared, "you have to EARN it kid, and no offense but those idiots you hang around with..."

"Which you happen to be freeloading off?"

There wasn't really an answer Renji could make to that, so he simply turned and left, shooting over the rim of the trees to cool off. It took him a few blocks to realise that the argument had completely distracted him from his original line of questioning and ground his teeth. Whatever. He'd just go back and tell the others about that strange riatsu he'd found and not mention a word of Karin being there. Serve her right for making him angry.

Karin simply stayed there a while. So she'd been right, that red-head WAS a shinigami, so it was likely that everyone at that shop was in on it. What had he said about this place? There was a weird energy signature? Maybe if she could sense it she'd be able to trace it.

With a frown the girl tried to concentrate, screwing her eyes almost shut in the an intense frown of concentration, it was like seeing those things right? So if she could just push it one stage further...

A small sweat drop formed on her forehead, the girl shaking her head to try and rid herself of it but instead wobbling, leading her to relax her face and rub her eyes blearily. Damn it! Why couldn't she see it? She'd sensed that hollow when she ran into Toushiro!

Maybe that was it, maybe she had to feel it rather than seeing it? With another firm expression on her face she closed her eyes and sat down where the woman had been, trying to get her image in her mind. Golden coat, long brown hair, weight on one leg, head slightly tilted...

"Karin! I thought you were only going out to get something from school?" the dark eyes flicked to the blonde sister rapidly approaching and stood with a sigh as she brushed off hr shorts.

"I decided to do a bit of shooting practice on the way back," she said with a shrug, looking up to see the huge guy from the shop escorting her. Good, she'd trained them well...

"Thanks for walking Yuzu back Tessai," she said with a smile, "I can take her from here."

The large man simply nodded and bade them goodbye as the twins walked back to their house, Yuzu eagerly telling her sister what had happened while she was gone while Karin occasionally nodded.


	3. Pretty kitty

So much for managing to post every Saturday . But here is the promised part! I hope you guys enjoy it.

Karin: If anyone reads it...  
Estantia: You're being cheerful as normal, aren't you?  
Karin: You haven't got any reviews, it seems likely they haven't read it, or they think it's boring.  
Estantia: Thanks for the confidence booster...  
Karin: *Grins* Any time. So, let's see what happens next in your story in the universe you don't even own.

Enjoy!

* * *

The next day dawned brightly, enough to make any student want to escape from school, which was precisely why Rangiku Matsumoto hadn't turned up to class. She was instead happily lying on a roof to sunbathe in the shopping district, her haul so far sitting next to her while she examined the half-eaten sausage roll in her hand.

A slight crash in the alley nearby made her briefly open one eye. Probably an alley cat. When the crash was followed by a sand-coloured creature flowing onto the next rooftop she blinked and sat up, propping herself on one arm to see better.

The creature half turned and then froze at the sight of her, tail lashing as the ears flattened slightly, bright golden eyes fixed on the redhead in a way that implied it was trying to decide whether to run or fight. The female shinigami was hoping it wasn't the latter, it was far too beautiful to be killed.

Strangely, after a minute of standing stock still the cougar turned so it was facing the front of the roof and sat, starting to wash itself as if the woman didn't even exist. Something in this seemed almost... tame, but this cougar was clearly wild, for all it looked gorgeous and well groomed.

"Well aren't you beautiful..." she murmured in admiration, "you're quite right to look after that fur of yours so well, though you do look a bit thin..." The cat flicked one ear in her direction, then returned to washing her foreleg.

The lieutenant looked at the sausage roll in her hand and carefully unwound the pastry from it before gently lobbing the sausage part over. This definitely got the animal's attention, standing fluidly and approaching the meat, giving it a tentative sniff before glancing up at her and daintily eating the food. The shinigami almost squealed in pure delight, she always HAD been a cat person.

Suddenly there was a rumble as a dark portal started to form a few metres behind the cat. Matsumoto cursed fluently, damn Aizen and these attacks! The cat whirled to face the disturbance, a deep growl coming from its throat even as Rangiku swallowed the soul candy and jumped over the cat, if she could get there before it did any major damage to the roof...

"Well well, whoever would've thought I'd get so many delicacies in the real world?" came the slimy voice of something humanoid, but almost entirely dominated by long black locks of hair that quivered at the ends as if they were alive and seeking prey. Well that was disturbing, and disgusting, not to mention she couldn't see its eyes, how could it see HER?

Before she could think further three locks of hair shot out and latched round her ankles and sword wrist. With a cry of disgust her sword swept round, neatly severing them before she jumped back a bit, realising that the wildcat had fled.

"You seriously need to get a new brand of conditioner, even the cat keeps it looking nicer..."

"I think it does the job fine," the fairly intelligent hollow replied with a tone in its voice that felt like a smirk. With a horrified glance she looked down, realising that the things were hanging onto her like leeches and trying to sneak into her clothes. With a shriek the woman ripped them off and threw them back at the... the _thing_.

"That's DISGUSTING!"

"Isn't it wonderful?" the creature gloated as the bits of hair melded into the main mass once more, "Now prepare to become my feast!"

"Like I'd let you! Growl, Himeko!"

As the sword dissolved the thing chortled, "and now you don't even have a sword to defend yourself!"

A mass of tendrils shot towards her as she unleashed the full fury of her attack, the ash shooting forwards in a cloud to slice the hairs into lengthwise and crosswise pieces as she jumped backwards again, grinning. "I think that's the worst case of split ends I've ever seen..."

The attack shortly revealed the Hollow's main body to be a mass of dark-purple held in by a sort of ribcage that wobbled angrily as the hair reformed, but not before she had seen there was no visible mask. Damn! That meant she was aiming for the wrong bit!

"Ooh you're going to have a _horrible_ death for that little girly..." the creature seethed as it surged forward, the hair acting as extra legs to propel itself over the roof gap and land with a squishy thud. Himeko's ash simply shot around and through the monster from the back, the ash forming two to rotating columns of air that tore through the hair and stopped it regenerating as it tried to escape them.

With another jump backwards the lieutenant gave her sword a final beckon, hearing the splintering of the Hollow's mask. As her sword returned to her the Hollow fell, revealing the mask to be at the base of the back of the creature before it dissolved.

The woman simply sheathed her sword and went to check if her shopping was alright, luckily it seemed they'd been fighting too far back on the roof for it to have been an issue.

"And it made the kitty-cat run away," she added with a pout, "Hollows, they always have to ruin things..."

"I think you do an adequate job of that for yourself," came a light comment from behind her as her captain touched down, "Luckily for you the roof tiles didn't hit anyone on the street below."

"Oops," Matsumoto said guiltily, picking up her bags, "I was meant to meet you wasn't I..?"

"Yes," he replied simply, arms folded, "and you were late because...?"

"Of the Hollow of course!" the woman replied immediately. Of course her Captain wouldn't be taken in but...

"You mentioned a 'kitty-kat'?"

...she'd hoped he wouldn't notice that.

"Hai, Taicho," she admitted, "but it was sooo beautiful! You don't see cougar's very often and this one was a beautiful sandy gold! It was so sweet too! It just sat over on the other roof and washed itself until I... had to fight that thing."

After the spilling words of explanation the white-haired boy sighed. "You fed it didn't you?"

"Only the sausage in my roll..." she mumbled.

"And it didn't occur to you that cougars aren't native to human cities?"

Another pause. _Well done Lieutenant._

"Oh."

The lieutenant explained properly whet had happened, then slipped back into her gigai and then picked up her bags, handing half of them to her Captain to carry and returning to ground level while he thought. The red-head decided to push for a response. "Taicho? What are we going to do about the cougar?"

"We're going to talk to the others about this."

"Is it really that serious?"

"No," he admitted with his eternal slight frown, "but something is odd about the way it acted. No natural wild animal would ignore someone like that, especially not a big cat who, in a city like this, would have been hunted for recapture."

The woman considered then nodded, "That's true, and yet it seemed completely unfussed, maybe it recognised I wasn't a threat?"

"But that would involve it knowing who you were, and that seems highly unlikely, you know no shapeshifters except Yoruichi nor overly intelligent cougars. That means information on you has leaked. We will ask the others if they've seen anything odd."

At the same time a rather different scene was occurring in the shop. Urahara and Yoruichi were curious by nature, and Karin's little question had caused the shopkeeper, in a moment of boredom, to tell the woman about it. One delicate eyebrow rose as she studied her old friend, and more accurately his lunch.

"You've got a whiff of this being connected to something bigger haven't you?" she asked flat out, literally too, she was currently sprawled next to the man, though had considered trying to pounce on the sandwich he was staring at in his hand.

"Not bigger, just... interesting," he replied, twiddling the small triangle around his fingers with a tentatively balanced piece of tomato miraculously staying put, "and you've got nothing else to do so..."

"Sounds fair enough, I've been dying for a roam," why wasn't that piece of tomato falling!

"It's not like you can travel with the threat of the Arrancar," he said evenly, "this waiting is chafing us all." He gave the sandwich a wiggle and Yoruchi snapped a hand out, swiping the entire sandwich and stuffing it in her mouth while glaring at the shopkeeper, who grinned.

"Well it wasn't like YOU were eating it, and it's undignified to be smug at winding people up."

"But it's so fun," Urahara replied, eyes glittering with laughter as the fan sprung open and the woman stood up with a stretch to prowl around the city in cat form.

_Well, if I were hiding where would I hide?_ she thought to herself as she crossed the road in a streak of black and up the incline on the other side. The answer was simple, the a nice unpopulated place like the woody bit up at the top of the city where the football places and the graveyard were.

The shadows merged under the trees, allowing her to slip in and out of view as she walked between the trees and bushes, eventually heading to the tree-tops for a better view of the ground below.

There was something odd about woods, you could almost fancy you were in some lost jungle with ferns and trees thousands of feet tall, a place where predators could lurk around every corner... Yoruichi grinned and shook her head at her romanticising, she really had been spending too much time with Urahara.

But then she made out a shape in the gloom and froze. The fading light just caught the outline of a large body on a branch slightly above her, long tail hanging down like the inhabitants of those jungles. Large eyes snapped open and focussed on the black cat, slitted lights as the shadows shifted, light sliding along a rounded ear as it half sat up.

Yoruichi's fur stood on end as she stood there, a slight hiss of surprise escaping before she caught herself and stayed still. The escaped cougar on the news! Her nose flared slightly as she took in the thing's scent. Strange, it smelt much more of civilisation than she would expect.

A low growl from the cougar brought her attention back to the surroundings, Yoruichi's head snapping up before she realised the cougar wasn't looking at her. Instead it was focussed off somewhere to the side, settling into a pouncing position with teeth bared towards where the Goddess of flash could smell Hollow.

Eventually it slithered into sight, looking like a cross between a snake and a centipede. It didn't seem too large or powerful, but looks could be deceiving. The cougar glanced across at Yoruichi before dropping straight onto the head of the Hollow, teeth closing around part of the mask and snapping it off before leaping to the side and spitting it out.

How could a _cougar_ know a Hollow's weak point?

The centipede's tail slammed down where the cat had been, the feline now racing up a tree to hide in the branches again, then do another dive from the side, this time managing to snap off a third of the mask.

A slight laugh and a rustle revealed the presence of two other hollows nearby, one bird-like and the other a snake with a woman's torso. "Don't tell me you're having trouble with a little cat?" she asked scornfully.

The injured hollow hissed in reply, "if it is so easy why hasn't it been caught already?"

Well that explained how the cougar knew the weak points, it must have already fought off several of them. Yoruichi frowned slightly, normal wild animals couldn't do that, and why were they all after it anyway? It looked like she might be needed to step in, but let them talk more first while the cougar was caught between them, glaring wildly round at them and growling.

"Well maybe it could handle itself against _one_ of us..." the bird thing whispered before all three jumped. Quite suddenly there were no hollows at all, just a cougar standing in the middle of a patch of trees and a smug black cat above.

If you played through those few seconds carefully you'd be able to see a brown skinned figure flash down from the tree tops and spin, a glint of metal betraying the method of death for those hollows, though it was moving far too fast to actually make out a shape.

After a moment's pause of looking confused the cougar climbed to the place where the trunk became branches again and sat looking at the cat, mildly bemused. It almost looked like it was thinking: What, her?

Well that settled it, this was NOT a normal wildcat. To prove this theory Yoruichi stood and jumped to its branch. There was a flash of instinctive surprise and the muscles bunched before it warily paused and sat down again. It really did look as if something was telling it she wasn't a threat.

Yoruichi calmly walked right up to it and gently headbutted its chest, rubbing itself on the sand-coloured fur while peeping up at the cat, whose ears had perked in interest and curiosity. After a moment the large head bent and started washing the cat, who obediently sat between the large paws and tried to figure out why the Hollow were after it.

-_Those things, do they always hunt you?-_ she asked in the way that cats did when talking to others of their kind. She was mildly surprised when there wasn't even a hesitation in the cat as it continued to wash her.

_-Can you hear me?-_ She asked curiously, but yet again got no response. Interesting, either it didn't understand or it genuinely couldn't hear what she was saying, odd.

At least she could answer why the hollows wanted it. From the contact Yoruichi could feel two distinct energies, one was regular riatsu, slightly higher than she'd normally expect for a living being, but also something else that wound THROUGH the cat rather than around it as spiritual pressure should.

_-What are you?- _She asked curiously, _-I've never felt your kind before.-_ Her question was passed over once again, but the cougar had finished washing what they could reach and stood.

With a wave of its tail that Yoruichi recognised as a cat's goodbye the cougar vanished into the trees, leaving the woman thoughtful and clean, well, depending on how you defined clean.

Well this was certainly a little incident to tell the shopkeeper about.


	4. JEEZ that's cold!

And here we are again, avoiding doing my essay in on Thursday in order to bring you the next part of the story! I confirm that I still don't own bleach, and this is a fairly long chapter too...

I hope you enjoy reading it, and if so do leave a review (even if only to tell me how to get more people reading this...)

Cya!

* * *

By order from Hitsugaya or otherwise most of the soul reapers in Karakura town ended up at Urahara's shop. The Captain sat opposite the shopkeeper, people usually looking at one or the other depending on who spoke.

"A power that's not riatsu? Maybe it's hollow-like?"

"I KNOW what they feel like!" Renji said hotly before the purple-haired woman also spoke.

"No, this person had slightly more than average riatsu, but there was definitely something else, something _inside_, not emitted."

"Then I'm guessing there was a large working where you were Renji," Urahara said with a nod, "and I think we should consult Karin on this."

"What has she got to do with anything?" Matsumoto asked curiously, "I mean yes, she can see those beings but..."

"She asked me about tracking someone she hadn't seen properly." Urahara said with a smirk, "presumably that's why she was there when Renji found her."

The red-head stared outright, "How did you know? I didn't even mention her!" Urahara once more smirked, but didn't reveal his answer. Renji scowled and continued in a calmer tone, "She can't actually know something useful, can she?"

"It's highly possible," Hitsugaya mused before standing, "In which case, I'd better be the one to ask her about it."

"Why you?" Yoruichi asked, "It seems Urahara would be more likely, he's already given her advice."

"But she knows I'm a Shinigami and treats me as a friend unlike the Lieutenant, whom she doesn't seem to get on with." There was a glower of agreement and nods from others.

"Everyone else, keep an eye out for the cougar, from what we've seen it's a target, presumably of Aizen. That means it's a danger to everyone else."

Another series of nods. They all understood that; and no-one liked the man to get what he wanted.

The white-haired Captain practically drifted across the city, a series of effortless jumps compared to his Lieutenant's passage across the rooves. He hadn't seen the Kurosaki girl since that football game, much as she'd tried to find him he had been busy, even his sunset watching from the hill had to be moved to a star-watch snatched while on patrol.

"Looking forward to seeing Karin-san?"

"Lieutenant, I've told you before, I was simply trying to find out who she was."

"And saved her out of pure disinterested heroism?"

Hitsugaya didn't bother to give the woman a reply. She seemed to misinterpret his sunset watch as an attempt to talk to the girl, and his assistance in the football match as a sign of affection when he'd only meant to find out more about Karin's hollow-sensing.

"Taiiiiiicho...."

"What, Lieutenant?" he asked, stopping on a tall fence.

"She's right there, P.E. lesson, going by the fact she's playing rounders rather than football."

Toushiro nodded and dropped down, the lack of a gigai making the pair effectively invisible to everyone but the person they wanted to talk to. At the sight of them Karin blinked and pretended to ignore them, shuffling further up the line of those to bat. When the short captain walked over to her she looked sideways at him briefly.

"Is there any way we can get you away from the lesson?" he asked politely, "it will look strange if you talk to thin air."

The black haired girl bit her lip slightly, there had to be a way... Yes, that was it! She turned her head slightly and spoke in a whisper, telling him what needed to happen. With a nod he walked to stand beside where the children with sticks were hitting the ball, waiting for Karin to get there.

"Karin, wait there a moment please, Mitsu, you need to swap out of being the bowler, that's 6 no balls in the last three batters..."

Karin scowled, all she needed was one ball to hit, was that so much to ask? Plus she could FEEL Toushiro behind her, a quietly icy presence that was sending chills down her spine every so often. It wasn't the creepy kind of chill, but it was distracting. Was she sensing his riatsu? She could remember that beautiful snowstorm and the ice that had frozen over the hollow, maybe that's what it felt like, his... life force?

When the Captain practically spoke in her ear she jumped, in her thoughts she'd almost forgotten the owner of the riatsu, "What are they doing?"

"Oh, Mitsu's a rubbish bowler so they're swapping her out so the game can go faster," Karin replied almost immediately, "It's just that everyone wants to be the bowler, the person who throws the ball."

"I see." He was still standing practically behind her! At this rate she was going to end up hitting HIM with the bat.

"Can you move please?" she whispered, "I need room to swing this."

"You have plenty of room," he replied, "I'm at least two metres away."

Karin blinked and glanced back over her shoulder, but she could have sworn he was right there! Her surprise only showed in her eyes for a blink before she focussed on the game again.

The girl who now had the ball grinned, "Don't think you're going to hit this one Karin..."

"Me? Not hit it?" Karin smirked, "Oh you asked for it..."

With a resounding smack the ball soared away upwards as a blast of freezing cold wind swept in, sweeping the ball even higher as Karin promptly dropped the bat and ran round the square, exchanging high fives with her team for the complete run as she stuck her tongue out at the bowler.

"Erm, should I go and get that?" she asked the teacher, "I won't need to bat for a while and it was kind of my fault..."

"That's the third time this term," the teacher said wearily, "I thought we told you not to do this?"

"I know sensei," Karin almost choked as she saw Matsumoto some way outside the fence idly tossing the ball up and down while grinning like a maniac, "but she dared me that I couldn't hit it..."

"Fine, fine, go and get the ball Kurosaki, just try not to do this again."

"Okay!" with a wave Karin started to jog towards the gate and out, making a grumbling noise when the Captain simply jumped the fence. The three kept going until they were properly out of sight before they stopped, Karin accepting the ball from the redhead as Toushiro watched her put it in a pocket.

"How come I haven't seen you recently?" Karin asked curiously, "Matsumoto at least attends the high school but I haven't seen you since the game." Why was the Lieutenant grinning at the scowl on Hitsugaya's face?

"We've been busy doing other things," he replied simply, "what we actually came to ask you was about what you saw at the park."

"I don't need you guys babysitting me," Karin said mulishly, "I'm sure I can find out for my..."

"That's not why he's asking, Karin-san," the redhead interrupted, "we think that whatever it was you saw is being hunted by hollows, and that means it's a danger to everyone near it. We need to find it quickly and work out why they want it."

Karin blinked again, she hadn't expected an answer so easily, and these guys weren't patronising her either...

"Fine, but I want to help out with this, okay? I was the one that saw her so I want to help," she said, looking to the white-haired shinigami, "I'm not stupid, it's just that the only people who let me actually do stuff are the Karakura rangers."

"We'll see," the captain replied, "but first, what did you see?"

"I'm not sure," she replied, "There was a woman in a gold coat like yours, only with sleeves, talking to a weird dinosaur-like thing about not having been here long enough because this world was suspicious and needed time," she said simply, "then they started talking about a Shift and an agreement, she'd not fight whatever they did but she'd skip stage one, whatever that means..."

"Did it sound like they were planning something?"

"They didn't like each other if that's what you mean," Karin replied, "and then she asked for some way to protect herself but the thing just laughed and shot a bolt at her from its wand and flew off." At this Matsumoto burst into giggles and Karin winced. Hitsugaya looked sceptical.

Karin glared at them, "I KNEW you wouldn't believe me! This is just a waste of time!" She turned and started to walk off but felt a hand grab her arm, holding her in place. It wasn't that she objected so much to as the wave of icy air flowing over her.

"JEEZ that's cold!"

The hand let go and the boy straightened, "you can feel my riatsu?"

"You DO have a distinctive presence, taicho," Matsumoto informed him, "that would be why she thought you were closer earlier, and you did just let out a wave of it when you went to catch her."

"I see." The icy feeling fell away, though Karin still rubbed her arms, "only in the last day or so, I'm not that good at it."

"You were planning to trace the person by their riatsu?"

"Well that's what Urahara kind of suggested... Well... he said I should go back and find something to trace them by, then Renji said about riatsu so..."

"I think you need to finish telling us what happened next," Hitsugaya replied, "starting an explanation without all the facts is useless."

After a brief explanation the two shinigami looked at each other. "It sounds like she got shapeshifted into that cougar then," the redhead said first, "that explains the intelligence at least."

"But it doesn't explain how she knows about us," the boy replied, "and also, that didn't sound like Kido or anything I've seen."

"It looked like magic," Karin said firmly, "or do you guys insist magic doesn't exist?"

"Well technically it's Kido but there's no reason why not... it's never been found at any rate," Matsumoto shrugged, "there's just Shinigami and Hollow powers."

"But I SAW it!"

"That's what worries me," the white-haired boy replied, "according to Yoruichi however, the riatsu at the park is different to the cougar's, implying that even if you had managed to sense it you'd have ended up tracking that... dinosaur?"

"Oh."

"You were doing fairly well though," Matsumoto said comfortingly, "and now we can all work together on this."

"Yes, but I don't have any special Shinigami powers or anything..."

"You said you started to sense riatsu," Hitsugaya pointed out, "that can be expanded on with training. Also, you are able to fight smaller hollows, so you have shown signs of it."

"Plus you can see and hear us now," Matsumoto added, "and your... brother has powers, why not you?"

Karin paused. She'd never thought of it like that, "So I CAN do it?"

"We'll count this as training," Hitsugaya said eventually, "If you show promise, then _maybe_ we could consider asking for you to become a shinigami. Maybe."

He had to admit, the girl did have a lot of potential, he'd seen a bit of it himself, and there was no denying that an extra pair of hands would be useful but...

"So, how can we find this cougar?" Karin sounded much more enthusiastic now, "It won't attack us, will it?"

"It didn't attack me or Yoruichi, so I think it knows who's safe and who isn't," Matusmoto said thoughtfully, "Really the best way would be so that if you run into it you contact us somehow, or just get it to follow you to a safer place."

Karin grinned, imagining the look on Jinta's face if she came in with a cougar, that would be priceless! "So do we try and search for it or just keep an eye out?"

"It seems to like the woods near where you play football, so you can find Taicho while he has his sky watching without feeling guilty."

That earnt her a glare from the short boy and Karin grinned. "Sounds fun, and maybe improve my riatsu sensing while I'm there?"

"Well how else were you meant to spend the time?" Rangiku said with a cheeky wink. Toushiro shook his head slightly with a sigh, he had the feeling the woman was trying to set him up... Like she'd manage it, there were far more important things to do.

"Can you manage to get out of school?" he asked, "It would mean we can search now."

"The only way to do that would be to say I'm sick," Karin replied, "and then Dad would rush to the school to take me back to the clinic and... you get the idea."

"Very well, 6 o' clock, where you saw me last time," the Captain said simply before turning to vanish, "Until then we patrol and try to find it."

"Coming!"

Karin thoughtfully walked back to the school, tossing the ball in her hand and watching it spin high in the air before coming back down with a neat thunk. Training... maybe becoming someone who could protect rather than be protected by Ichi-nii all the time. It would be so brilliant if she could do it...

"Karin, you actually came back!"

"Yeah, we thought you were going to try and skip the rest of the class," another girl added jokily before Karin grinned, returning to reality.

"Since when have I wanted to miss P.E?"

"When you'd rather play soccer with the boys?"

"That's not skipping... technically..."

"So wait, let me get this straight," Yumichika said, a slight smile tipping his mouth, "Hitsugaya-taicho's going to give riatsu sensing lessons to a girl..."

"Who's the only person in five miles with the spunk and the height to match him," Ikkaku commented,

"...In the most romantic spot in the city..."

"Uh huh," the redhead grinned broadly,

"...and he hasn't twigged you're trying to set him up?" At this the woman smiled even wider,

"He probably has..."

"Then why aren't you dead?"

"BECAUSE he knows I'm trying to set him up, so he'll try to prove me wrong just to prove a point."

"Does this mean I get to teach her how to fight? If she's Ichigo's sister she's going to have the capability to kick some serious-"

"She's only being trained passively," Yumichika reminded him, "any of the higher ups would be reluctant to have another human Shinigami, especially another from the same family."

"In case she kicked thei-"

"You just want to fight her."

"Admit it, you're itching to give her a try too."

"And me," Matsumoto added, "plus it could mean _sparks_."

At this she got a slightly scared look from both men, however the bald one was the first to point out she was obsessed, showing a lack of tact that resulted in him hastily defending against her bag.

Above them a cat-shaped shadow paused, then continued on its patrol. She had a feeling Urahara would like that bit of information, if only to be proven right.


	5. Making an entrance

Loha, it's another Saturday and that means another chapter of Karakura Cougar! *Jazzy lights a la Don Kanonji appear briefly*. Having to do a disclaimer every chapter seems kind of pointless doesn't it, but I still don't own Bleach :P

Thank you very much to Melonsplash and Reiuko for giving me some reviews on this, I hope you enjoy this next part as much as you did the last ones!

On with the show! -Estantia

* * *

A low growl rippled through the air as golden eyes flicked from one man to another, the four men closing in on it with whispers of capture and prices. At the sound their tones changed slightly, carrying hints of cruelty or fear, these people weren't scared in the least.

Pity really.

With a flash of movement the creature ran forwards then sprang away sideways, neatly avoiding the net thrown at it and whipping its flank out of the path of a tranquilliser dart. They didn't even part when it ran straight at them, veering away when a knife emerged.

When the second dart whizzed by their ear and a smoke grenade went off the creature almost looked annoyed, as if it might have had enough of this game. However, animals couldn't think, and so it was impossible that it would turn the tables on experienced hunters.

They weren't expecting a large paw to slam the tranquilliser gun out of the man's hand or the huge weight rushing onto their chest and pushing off, the man toppling as they landed heavily on another man's shoulders and leapt in a whirl of moving smoke. Its momentum carried it up and over the wall that had blocked its path and now worked as a barrier, the cat casting a last glance back at the smoke cloud to check they weren't following before the sandy golden tail vanished.

Less than a minute later two teenagers stopped at the entrance to the alley, the tall man making a disgusted "Tch," when he saw the smoke and strewn net.

"Jeez, and we were all ready to find the flipping thing too," Renji continued, clearly not impressed, "then you guys have to show up and try to shoot it, what's the reward anyhow? Money? A skin? A head on the wall?"

"Look sonny, I don't know who the hell you think you are but-" one man started before the sun was blocked out by the man's companion, a sleepy-looking giant with one scarily alert eye visible beneath his floppy hair.

The hunter faltered for a moment then continued, "This is nothing to do with you, so just scram like good kids, okay?"

"Smoke grenades? Tranquilliser darts?" the talkative one replied, "oh I think the police would be very interested in this..."

"It's a wild animal, it needs to be taken down, so just get..." This time the leader of the hunters trailed off entirely as Chad walked closer, stopping so he was looking almost vertically down at the man.

"Go."

Renji looked after the retreating hunters with a sigh, "Why can't I do that?" Chad simply shrugged and walked over to collect the hunter's things, putting them in a bag to take back to the shop. Renji sighed and then left the alley, the man following silently as Renji ranted about stupid humans out for nothing but money with no respect for life. Unfortunately, Chad had to agree.

Jinta looked mildly irritated as the Karakura waited for their 'amazing' leader to arrive at the scene. Karin was practically growling at the clock, watching it tick slowly and trying to work out if she'd miss her 6 o'clock appointment because of the idiot. WHY he had decided to call an emergency meeting now of all times...

"I have arrived!"

"Oh good, now get on set and start the show, you're late!"

The man smoothly stroke in front of the cameras and turned sharply, his long cloak swirling as they started to roll, "Goooooooood evening Ladies and Gentlemen! Tonight we bring you this live special as the Karakura rangers go after a mysterious creature that, like our rangers, has one foot in either world! Could this be the faithful pink lion chariot that was seen when the Karakura Rangers formed? Is it a guide to inspire them and empower them?"

He paused, having swapped from exaggerated excitement to mystical guru in under a second, "Hopefully tonight we shall find the answer! The answer to the Mystery of the Vanishing Lion!"

Karin blinked and then cut in before she knew what she was saying, "It's a cougar, not a lion! What do you know about it anyway?"

"So you know about it, big deal," the red-head shrugged, "I bet you don't _actually_ know anything."

Karin smirked, "Actually... I was there at the first encounter."

"You're kidding."

"Karin-san told me earlier," Ururu added shyly, "she really did see it."

"But I have had a tip that might lead us to the location of the lion!" Don Kanonji interrupted, determined not to be upstaged.

"It's a COUGAR!" the younger members yelled as they ran after him, heading straight for... the shopping district? This could turn out badly, but Kanonji was still steadily filling in the audience on the situation.

"A few days ago reports of an escaped lioness,"

"Cougar,"

"Started to come into police, but despite this no zoos in the area reported any missing creatures from their collections and immediately theorized it came from a private source. However we know differently!"

Karin wondered briefly if he was making it up or actually did have some idea what was going on. The latter theory died at what he next said.

"Wherever this lioness has been seen there has been destruction and terror not unlike that caused by the Pink Lion Chariot due to the monsters that followed it. For this reason we believe it is our friend and guide come back to aid us in our efforts but given a stronger body due to an increase in status and power!"

"So what happened when you saw the lion Karin-san?"

"Well I was going home when I saw this ripply kind of light from the trees nearby," Karin explained, hastily adjusting the true sequence of events, "naturally I went to look..."

"Show-off," Jinta muttered before Karin continued.

"When I got there I saw the shape of a large gold cat for a moment before it vanished into the trees, scared off by the shriek of a rat-like monster. The creature made loads of little copies of itself, but my football easily cut through the swarm and slammed into the head, scaring it off. The fight meant I lost sight of the cat though."

"And this poor creature's been pursued ever since!" Kanonji exclaimed as they slowed to a walk through the crowds, "Now, my instincts are telling me that the Lion..."

"Cougar!"

"Will come through this area on the lookout for food, normally sticking to back alleys and other waste, hardly fitting for a soul of it's caliber..."

"Are you saying we're just going to wait here until it turns up?"

"Well... erm..."

Luckily they were saved from further embarrassment by a series of screams as something moved through the crowd towards them at a fast rate. Don turned to face the right direction and his cloak swirled again, however this time he didn't manage to reel off a speech, having been cut off by the sound of shattering glass and a screeching that made the spiritually aware people clap their hands to their ears in unison.

"What is that?" Ururu asked shakily before Karin shook her head, ears still ringing,

"It's using sound as a weapon, that'll really hurt that cat's ears and ours if we don't stop it!"

"It's given me a headache already..." the boy muttered, readying his bat before a flash of tan appeared at roughly knee-level in the crowd, the people parting before it.

"What the..." came a few words of surprise from the spirit hunter before the children on either side elbowed him in the stomach and pulled, leading him into a run as the windows near them shattered from the Arrancar's shriek.

The world seemed to slow slightly as the cougar ran past, one calm golden eye on Karin as the fur brushed against her leg. For that moment it almost felt like a regular cat giving a greeting to a friend, but this was a cougar running flat out away from a human hollow-thing.

Oh right. The monster. Oops.


	6. This is why I need to be stronger!

It's Saturday again and this time you've had two short chapters rather than one massive one. Would you guys prefer that or just having a really long chapter? Feedback is always good :D

In other areas of note, I really hate revising and the exams thereof . Enjoy the fanfiction! (Bleach not mine :( )

* * *

_The world seemed to slow slightly as the cougar ran past, one calm golden eye on Karin as the fur brushed against her leg. For that moment it almost felt like a regular cat giving a greeting to a friend, but this was a cougar running flat out away from a human hollow-thing._

_Oh right. The monster. Oops._

Their group started sprinting after everyone else (not giving their leader a chance to be heroic) and keeping the cougar vaguely in sight, following its path until they and the camera crew came to the park Karin had first seen the cat in.

At this point Karakura Gold got unceremoniously dropped as the others turned and readied their weapons, looking suspiciously at the creature entering the park, blinking slightly as their pursuer stopped just inside the park at the sight of them.

"So, did you like my performance?" It asked in a surprisingly smooth voice, identifying it as a woman, "I thought it was only fitting for a camera crew,"

"You know what a camera crew is?" Karin said, half to herself,

"Of course I know what a camera crew is..." she said with a roll of her eyes and tucking a lock of brown-blonde behind her ear on one side, letting the other side hang loose over the bone feathers spreading back from her ears.

"Foul monster!" Don Kanonji exclaimed, upright and waving a finger at her, "You shall be vanquished for trying to hunt this lioness!"

"Honestly, how rude!" The camera crew jumped and tried to search for the source of the noise, while Jinta looked to the woman, eyebrow raised.

"How come they can hear you, lady?"

"Simple," she replied, "Since Mr. Kanonji here is simply so _boorish_ in his approach to spirits I thought I'd kill two birds with one stone, and manage to get my beautiful voice on television, even if they can't see my beauty."

"That hollow has control over sound, doesn't she?" Ururu said suddenly, "so she's just making it sound like her so they can hear too."

"The quiet one's the clever one of the group it seems..." the Arrancar mused, "However I'd like to correct you on that. Unlike those animals you're used to fighting I am an Arrancar, Josepha Maria Callente, a much _higher_ form of being."

"But still evil," Karin pointed out, "You frightened everyone back there! Ruined those shops and cars, they belong to people!"

Suddenly Karin stiffened, eyes shooting to the side where the woman was suddenly standing, one cold taloned finger lifting Karin's chin with a sinister smile, watching as she delicately broke the skin enough for a drop of crimson blood to trickle down Karin's chin.

"Karin!" Yuzu yelled, eyes wide. The Arrancar simply ignored the girl and leant forwards, hair whispering over the girl's shoulder.

"Of course I am," she said close to Karin's ear, "After all, just _think_ how many Hollow you've destroyed. I don't actually care about them of course, but a little squirt like you has no right to try and tell me off, what a joke."

The woman's pale blue eyes snapped to the side, "and don't even think your puny little bauble can effect me, I mean really, if I can get from there to here so fast you can't see me move, what hope do you have?"

"I see you've shown your true colours now, you devil!" It seemed the irrepressible spirit hunter recovered fast, "even going so far as to hold her hostage so we can't attack!"

"You _really_ think I'm scared of you?" She vanished again, the man flying forwards from a solid kick even as she reappeared next to a tree and lounged, eyes glittering maliciously. "Pathetic, I may as well just go and get that creature, which is a cougar by the way, not a lioness."

"Hey lady." The woman turned to see the dark-haired Kurosaki glaring, eyes livid as she wiped the blood off her chin, "who the hell told you it was polite to make others bleed?"

"Uh oh, she's getting angry..." Jinta muttered, taking the smallest of steps away from Karin.

"Oi, idiot, Ururu," Karin said steadily, glaring down the woman, "How about we stop talking and start attacking?"

"Foolish children," Josepha said scornfully, "what hope can you have?"

"If you really do know about our show then you should know..." Karin tossed the football high and brought her leg down with energy flaring wildly around it, "the Karakura Rangers NEVER give up!"

With a smack the football shot across the distance, the woman smirking before she vanished again, Ururu's head whipping round as she readied her bazooka and started calmly firing, tracking the woman's path before stopping.

"She's behind that tree," she added, pointing, "I didn't want to destroy it though."

"You can see her when she does that???"

"Yes, it's quite easy really."

"You could have told us earlier..."

The group started slightly at the angry whisper that wove through the air, "Why you little...!"

"Ururu! Move!" Kairn yelled as she sprinted across the park in the other direction, skidding to a halt next to her football as she picked it up and then ran back as Jinta rushed towards Ururu, bat raised.

Then there was a blast of noise as an entire column of air burst forwards, splintering the tree and making those near duck as it went soaring past in a whirl of dust, causing all of them to cough madly and rub their eyes to get the grit out. When they straightened up again to look they was the woman fiercely glaring at them, a clear set of rips in the side of her skirt.

"Look what you've DONE!" she screeched, voice accompanied by howling, "that dirty stinking great gun of yours has torn some of my skirt to pieces on television!"

"Oh come on, you're getting wound up over _that_?" Karin asked in disbelief, "It's a boring white skirt! And no-one can see you apart from us anyway!"

"But.. But what if they do a CG insert because I'm so beautiful?"

"Broadcasting live," Yuzu explained, "Sorry."

With a scream of anger the Arrancar charged, pulling out a sword from the sheath that had been attached to her belt and headed straight for the blonde girl.

"YUZU!" her twin yelled, shooting forwards faster than she could believe was possible , using her speed to give extra momentum to another kick, sending the ball soaring straight towards the woman's face as she stood in front of Yuzu.

The material slammed into her face, bringing the woman to a halt as it spun. Karin, however, frowned. Normally there would at least be some kind of steam from an impact like that.

The mouth underneath the ball broke into a smile, as it peeled away from her untouched face and fell into her hand, then a laugh as Yuzu ran and she tossed the ball at the red-headed boy.

"You really thought that could stop me?" the woman laughed, eyes bright with gleeful pleasure, "You really ARE weak! And now, you're unarmed!"

_This is why I need to become stronger!_ Karin screamed to herself as she threw herself sideways, trying to get out the way only to find the woman's path following her. The girl then stopped and face the onslaught. Whatever else happened, she was NOT going to die while running away!

They met in a cloud of dust as the woman shrieked, raising the volume as all of them were encased in the wrath of the attack.


	7. Can Shimigami Drive?

It's Saturday again! however I'm posting as early this time as I did as late last time, sleeping pattern? What sleeping pattern?

Thank you to all the lovely people who have reviewed and put this on Story alert! I will continue writing my fanfic, which, note, is a FANfic, so I don't own anything apart from the cougar.

Out of interest, would you guys be interested in seeing anything else from me?  
Enjoy!

-Estantia

* * *

_They met in a cloud of dust as the woman shrieked, raising the volume as all of them were encased in the wrath of the attack._

Slowly the dust cloud faded away, air currents gently pulling it apart. Thunder rolled gently as Karin waited, lying curled on her side with eyes open, desperately searching for any sign of the attacker.

What she had not been expecting to see when the dust parted was a golden-furred side less than a metre in front of her breathing heavily as it guarded her, eyes on the Arrancar and the white haired boy standing in a tree with the chain of his Zanpaktou wrapped around the woman's arm.

Out of the corner of her eye she could see Matsumoto in front of the other group with an arc of destruction between them. That was strange, she swore the blast had pushed her aside and hit them squarely...

"The lion has come to our aid!" Don Kanonji triumphantly announced, regardless of the fact everyone else could already see they were fine.

"Cougar," everyone replied absently, paying more attention to the woman, who was giving Hitsugaya the most poisonous look she could manage.

"Surprised that I figured out your weakness so quickly?" the small captain said cooly, "it's quite obvious really, you need to direct the sound with your body, and so by moving the body even a small way your aim is thrown off."

That explained why she'd missed then... but not the solid knockback Karin had received. _It has to be the cougar_, Karin thought, _but why would a wild animal protect us? It almost looks like it brought them to help._

"Don't you dare underestimate me!" the woman yelled, the ice around her arm shattering with a high ringing sound, allowing her to turn and slam her hands forward, a blast of sound all but obliterating the tree Hitsugaya was standing on. The unconcerned manner he simply drifted to the ground only seemed to annoy the woman further.

Before the woman could attack again however, Jinta had moved, darting round Matsumoto and racing in to take a swing with his bat. It DID connect solidly with the woman's side, but it simply made a ringing sound, almost like it was hollow.

It did seem to have some effect though, causing the woman to swing round and lash out with a hand. The strike missed by a few inches, Jinta having avoided swipes often enough to get out the way in time, but it had still been close.

In response the cougar growled, catching the arrancar's attention and causing her to smirk, "So, the prize everyone wants to catch actually came to me rather than the other way round, excellent. Now I think this qualifies for my release!"

"Ah ha! So you have been holding back this entire time!" the irrepressible spirit hunter stated before Yuzu tugged on his sleeve.

"Release doesn't sound like it's anything to be happy at seeing..."

"But it means we see its true potential!" he said expansively, short cape whirling as he spread his arms, Yuzu making a face of avid excitement while Matsumoto blinked and jerked a thumb at them.

"Are they always like this?"

"Unfortunately..." Karin said dryly because a shrill voice caught her attention.

"HEY! Pay attention to me while you're fighting me!" The blonde looked furious, grabbing the hit of the sword by her side with one hand before unsheathing it. "Call out, Asenime!"

With a storm of noise the wind pulled into an orb of whirling air, blocking the woman from sight briefly. After a moment a shape shot out of the top of the wind, snapping out bone white wings from her shoulders, white feathers forming a crest that extended down into a beak that hung over her face. Her hands and feet also were encased in it, forming talons that spread into sprays of feathers.

At this point Ururu shouldered her gun and began to fire, sending a shower of bullets towards the Arrancar, only to see every single one of them miss. Jinta stared, "You never miss!"

"Not unless she's forced to," Matsumoto said quietly, "did you see the wings shake? The sound waves disturbed them from the path."

"And that means long range attacks won't hit, and she's flying so we can't hit her," Karin added disgust, "That's a cheat's way of fighting."

"No, it's just sensible," she replied with a smirk before diving down towards the cougar and Karin, grinning savagely. With a start Karin realised the danger she was in and attempted to scrabble to her feet. Unfortunately the fighting had wrecked the place, causing her shoes to skid over loose stones and send her flat onto her stomach as the monster got closer.

Quite suddenly there was a gentle pressure on her waist and she wasn't on the ground anymore, instead speeding away to where Matsumoto was standing. With a surprised blink Karin looked up to see the white-haired Captain putting her down with a slight frown.

"You're not usually that clumsy."

"I'm fine," Karin insisted, "I just couldn't get a grip, but look at the cougar!"

The cat didn't seem to care much about the fact the monster was diving straight at it. At the very last second the cat _hopped_ sideways and whirled round, jumping onto the flier's back and sinking claws into the shoulderblades to rip out as much as it could reach.

An explosion of ice and water next to Karin made her jump as it formed a dragon that roared as it shot towards its target. With a shriek the air seemed to explode outwards, throwing the cat off the woman's back and shattering the dragon's ice. However the water kept on going, slamming into the Arrancar and forcing her back some way.

The cougar spun in the air, frantically trying to right itself or to get to the trees, with a strangled yowl it slammed into a tree trunk, scrabbling for grip before its momentum carried it through the leaves and out of sight.

In response Yuzu immediately tried to run after it only to be held back. Ururu gently shook her head, "It's not safe yet," she pointed out, eyes on the Arrancar. With a final crackling noise the jet of water froze, trapping the avian woman in place. Another unspoken command from Hitsugaya and the jet separated, allowing the frozen block to fall to the ground with a smash. A fresh round of powerful bullets splintered the ice still further until it shattered.

Slowly the dust died away as the Captain resheathed his sword, sighing slightly as Don Kanonji promptly took charge again, proclaiming in a loud voice about a new threat and new allies as the cameramen drank it in, not entirely certain what to make of the entire affair.

Meanwhile Karin smiled at the short soul reaper, "Thanks,"

"For what? You were late, so we came to find you."

"And saved all our lives?" she reminded him before amending herself, "several times?"

"It was no big deal," he said with a shrug, "but we now have proof Aizen is after the cougar. Why is it so important?"

"I dunno, but it came to help us, so that's good, right?" Karin pointed out before realising something with a jerk, "The cougar! What if its hurt?"

The captain's expression snapped into a true frown as he jumped to where the cougar had entered the trees, "the wood is smashed," he said, jumping down as Karin caught up, "I highly doubt it escaped without injury."

"That means it's an easy target," Karin said worriedly, "It can't have gone far, let's look for it now."

Hitsugaya nodded and sped off, leaving Karin to try and follow the path of broken branches through the wood, ignoring the calls of the other Karakura rangers as she marched solidly on.

She just wished it was muddy, at least then she might actually have a chance of seeing some prints. As it was when she got out of the wood she'd be stuck, and that wasn't good. However she was surprised when she eventually emerged... above Toushiro's sunset spot?

At the edge of the wood Karin stopped, blinking. It seemed a little too coincidental that the cougar had headed for where they were likely to be. The image of the cougar looking up knowingly at Karin as it flashed past and the guarding stance it had adopted flashed across her mind and she frowned.

Not to mention SHE'D been the one to see the thing before it changed... was that it? Was it looking to her to figure it all out?

With a cautious scrabble she walked to the sunset spot and sat on the rail, looking out at the sky as she closed her eyes. If the cougar was waiting for them to find it the cat would be nearby, but under cover so it was at least partially hidden. It would also want to keep an eye out for them, so that meant...

Karin's eyes snapped open and she looked at the slope, of course, normally they looked at the sky... The girl carefully scanned the bushes around as a dark speck appeared in the corner of her eye and grew closer. A glimmer of a reflection?

As Hitsugaya landed Karin smiled, standing up to walk over to the clump of bushes that merged into the trees and kneeling to offer a hand towards it. Once Hitsugaya got there and also crouched he could clearly see the cougar lying in the hollow under the bush, panting slightly as it looked up at them with a Sphinx-like posture.

"So you were waiting for us to find you, huh?" Karin asked gently, "you're a little too clever for a kitty."

"That would be because you know they aren't a kitty," the young Captain pointed out, "and its injured, I doubt it can fight with one foot sideways."

"What?" Karin's glance shot to the front paws and realised one WAS lying oddly, as if it had pulled it on from the side in an attempt to look dignified, "Oh dear, that looks like a sprain at least, possibly broken, but I'm used to human bones."

"How do you... ah yes, the Kurosaki Clinic."

"Yuzu's better at it than I am," she replied with a shrug, "but we need to get them somewhere safe without being noticed, and healed too."

"We'll need to use a car so we're not seen," the Captain stated, "it depends if the cougar will stay with us though."

"I think it will," Karin said uncertainly, "after all, we finally twigged where it was and it's not running now. Small thing... Can any of you drive?"


	8. We don't WANT to know

Good afternoon and evening! It's Saturday in the UK and here we have our next chapter. Thank you to all those who have reviewed and are following this story, I hope you continue to enjoy it! (Still don't own Bleach by the way)

And now you get to see how they resolve the issue of driving a car. (I did say I couldn't think of many shinigami IN soul society who could drive...)

Enjoy! -Estantia

* * *

"I think I underestimated how beautiful cougars were," Kisuke Urahara commented idly as he watched the cougar hesitate nervously, eyes flicking wildly as it looked at the car, with Karin and Hitsugaya sitting in the back seat. "It looks as if Yoruichi got it right, as if something else is telling it what to do but it doesn't quite trust it."

"We're climbing into a metal box with you, even I'M worried!"

"Hai, hai..." Kisuke returned to sitting in the front seat with a smirk as the injured cougar carefully hopped up and settled, front half leaning against the Captain's legs while the back half and tail used Karin's ankles for support.

At the contact Hitsugaya's face went back to its mild frown, "I see what Yoruichi meant, there is an enormous amount of power inside it, but its sealed inside. You try sensing it." The Kurosaki girl nodded and fiercely concentrated. There was the faint buzz of a fairly strong riatsu, a slight purr and the cougar shifted...

Suddenly her senses were swamped by bright golden light and she threw herself out of concentration with a gasp for air. When she looked again she could recognise that faint golden trace whirling through the cat like some sort of galaxy behind a black lace, or was it dark vines?

"Karin? Are you alright?"

With a blink Karin looked sideways to see emerald green eyes fixed on her. She replied with a dazed nod, "Yes what..."

"I tried to probe its power," Hitsugaya said shortly, "it reacted... more fiercely than I expected."

"Now _that's_ an understatement..." Urahara muttered from the front seat, "If I could feel a pulse of disturbed not-riatsu from here then it must have swamped Karin."

"I didn't know it would react like that!" Hitsugaya snapped lightly, "I apologise if I caused you discomfort."

"Apology accepted..." Karin muttered, "but hey, at least I got the sense of it firmly locked in my brain now."

"I think you're lucky for the cougar not to have mauled you," Urahara said lightly with a wink at Hitsugaya, who pointedly ignored the man.

"There's definitely something there," Karin said, "but it feels kind of like what I'd imagine life force itself to be, you know a source of power deep inside and all that rubbish Don Kanonji spouts."

"There might be something to it," Urahara mused as they approached a turning, getting directed left by the10th Squad Captain, "after all, those ideas had to start somewhere."

Hitsugaya didn't look convinced. Karin, however, smiled and leant down, gently stroking the cougar's fur and getting a surprised "Prrp?" noise from the animal. Urahara raised an eyebrow with a slight tip of his mouth, earning a glare from the girl.

"At least animals are generally nicer than people."

"I didn't say anything..."

The cougar seemed fairly happy to leave the car again, hopping down onto three feet and limping towards the right house directly behind Hitsugaya, the last of the light catching the fur to make it shine golden.

"Taicho! You brought the kitty back!"

"But with you shouting like that, how long will it stay here?" the man replied, opening the door and letting the others inside. It wasn't much in the way of luxury, admittedly, and one of the main rooms had the screen in, but it was practical and suited him nicely, though he was sure the tinkly things Orihime found were just a waste of space.

Thinking of which... the Captain looked over his shoulder to the shopkeeper innocently following them in, "Why did you bring her to our house? After all yours has a large basement and it doesn't appear strange for you to order lots of meat."

"Well there is Orihime here..."

"She left a few days ago with Rukia to train in Soul Society, you knew that," he replied with a slight frown,

"Must have slipped my mind with all the excitement," he replied, leaning down to stroke the cougar gently, "Such a pity then, and I wouldn't think she'd want to return to the car..."

At this point it clicked and the green eyes shot towards the Lieutenant, who'd been doing her best to keep out of the way, "_Matsumoto..._"

He could almost _see_ her sweating, "Er.. Yes Taicho?"

"If it stays here then _you_ are going to be the one buying food for her."

"But Tai-!" she cut herself off abruptly as Hitsugaya's eyes narrowed. Instead she meekly led the cougar to lie down next to the table. "We'll still need her to be healed."

"May I see?" Urahara enquired before sailing over to kneel next to the cougar, gently examining the foot while the cat watched warily. Eventually he looked up, "It looks like its broken, she will need proper healing."

Hitsugaya didn't ask about when Urahara had found out the cougar was female and instead leant against the wall nearby where Karin was keeping herself out the way.

"You found them very quickly."

"It was acting like a human would think," she explained, "Once I figured out it was waiting for us to find them it was easy really."

"Meaning you just had to think like a human," Hitsugaya looked at the floor for a moment, then back at the cougar, "but it can't have another voice telling it what to do, can it?" he asked, mostly to himself.

"Unless it has two minds," Karin pointed out, "one human, one cougar. The woman DID say that she needed to be able to think, so she wouldn't get into trouble."

"That's what makes me wonder," he mused, "but it just wouldn't work."

"Only if you stick to the same rules," Urahara interrupted with that smile of his as Matsumoto dashed into the kitchen to get some food for the cougar, "and this creature hasn't exactly done that so far has it?"

The Captain didn't reply, thinking as life continued around him. Karin joined Urahara in fussing over the cat and Rangiku returned with food for the cougar. Somehow it felt much more normal than the quiet house he'd gotten used to over the last few days.

He was jerked out his thoughts by a furry head butting his folded arms. He absently rubbed the head and then paused, looking down at the cat that seemed entirely pleased with itself.

What are you up to? He asked silently, Why does Aizen want you so badly? Did you plan this?

The cougar simply gave him a gentle nudge in the stomach. "Well that settles it, she understands us," Urahara said happily,

"For something that was so wild she seems really tame, doesn't she?" Karin said curiously.

"Certainly a drastic change in temperament..." Hitsugaya muttered with a suspicious look even as Matsumoto gave the cat another hug, "Lieutenant, stop that."

"But she DOES need our help," she pointed out, from hanging round its neck, "Once Aizen realises we've got her with us he'll send more powerful Arrancar to try and take her. Not to mention she's..."

"Got something locked up inside herself? Doesn't act like a normal creature should? Changes personality from one moment to the next? We need a way to see what's really going inside that head, if it really has two minds."

"That _is_ one of the reasons I came here actually," the shopkeeper said, searching through his pockets, "there are various ways to get a soul out of a body, so I brought a few with me."

"They're not going to hurt it are they?" Matsumoto asked suspiciously, "the substitute shinigami badges give a bit of a jerk when you use them..."

"I'm using the glove," Urahara reassured her before kneeling next to the cougar again, "now, just stay calm, this won't hurt." Gently he put the glove on and reached out for the cat's shoulder.

As normal Urahara's glove passed straight through the skin, but then stopped. He blinked once, then gave a push. It looked like something was resisting him. After a moment the cougar shook itself, the moment making the shopkeeper lose his balance and hastily sit back on is heels. "That was interesting."

"If it helps I definitely saw the shoulder come out of this side," Karin said with a shrug. The cat itself blinked curiously at itself, as if it didn't get quite what was going on either.

After a moment the shopkeeper reached forward again, this time pushing at the animal's head. This time he pushed harder and there was a slight buzzing accompanying the movement along with something like a grimace on the cat's muzzle.

Admittedly something WAS coming out the other side. No, wait, two things, one seemed almost like a smaller version of the cougar, the other... a miniature version of a long coat? Whatever it was there seemed to be something fixing them inside, and the buzzing was making their teeth rattle.

With a growl the cougar whipped its head round as it stood and hopped away backwards, fur bristling as it bore its teeth at the shopkeeper. The shapes were gone, whatever they were, leaving no hint of their existence. Muttering a last small growl before shaking its head and lying down, the cougar started to use the uninjured front paw to wash its head vigorously.

"I think that counts as a resounding failure," Matsumoto said after a minute, "so, what do we try next? Soul candy?"

"No way," Karin replied, "most kinds of candy are poisonous to cats."

"Soul candy is rather different..." Urahara replied, "But nevertheless, it's better not to take a chance."

"So what do we do now?" asked the human, "okay, so we can't get her out of her head, so what about getting into it?"

The group fell silent again, the lieutenant looking to her captain, Karin looking between the men and after a moment Hitsugaya's eyes springing open to look at Urahara. "I know there are should be zanpaktou which manipulate the mind, is there anyone that you know of? Or any artefacts Yoruichi may possess?"

"It's true that there are several which can..." the shopkeeper seemed deep in thought, "but it seems we're going to need to head to soul society if we want to find out about this little beauty," the man informed them. "There is someone in 4th squad who normally treats those with mental injuries, the thing is they can't authorise a medical person coming out to treat just anyone."

The green eyes narrowed slightly for a moment. He knew how it worked, to request a member from another squad to come to the normal world it generally had to be for another member of the squads, not a random person. "I see, so you're suggesting that we make her an honourary member of the 10th so she can receive the treatment? Is it even POSSIBLE to do that?"

"Please do it Taicho! Plus it would mean it could come to soul society without anyone complaining," Matsumoto pointed out, "Not to mention we've already seen they can fight."

"And you would get to keep her as a pet," the white-haired captain added in a mutter. He sat down at the table with his usual scowl and tapped his fingers on the wood for a moment, then paused, noting the man simply pressed a button on his phone. So he'd already written the request. Typical.

"Fine, send the text for them to get onto it. At least then we can keep it safe and not have to worry about her."

"Thank you Urahara-san!" Matsumoto said happily before going to the cougar and offering a hand, "you feeling better? I'm sorry if he hurt you."

"Oh!" Karin exclaimed, drawing the attention of those in the room as the shopkeeper opened the door to go, "I should probably go home, it's kind of late, and Dad and Yuzu will be worrying about me after I ran off so suddenly."

"Why don't you stay for dinner?" Matusmoto suggested, "After all they know Orihime's your friend, and if they ask we can say you met Hitsugaya-taicho at school and decided to visit?"

"That has so many holes in Dad will never believe it..." Karin muttered, "for a start why would he be living here?"

"We're staying with Orihime because er... she's my cousin!" the lieutenant suggested, "you've got to admit there is a kind of similarity."

"You're both have ginger hair and never stop talking?" Hitsugaya suggested,

"I was thinking of something else..."

"We don't want to know what you were thinking Urahara."


	9. Whoa dizzy

Another Saturday, and I'm putting off revising (Sound familiar to anyone?) so you get your weekly chapter :D In other news, we're nearing the end of this, all 65 pages of it. I was highly surprised when I found out how much I'd written *sweatdrop*.

I hope you enjoy! I don't own Bleach, if I did then we'd see the 'minor' characters a lot more often!

* * *

"I'm getting a lesson now?" Karin asked, slightly confused as she set down her chopsticks, "isn't it kind of late for that?"

"Seeing as Matsumoto decided to arrange for you to _sleep_ over instead of just eat over," a glare was directed at his lieutenant, who remained looking innocent, "it only makes sense to use the time well."

"I guess it makes sense," she replied, settling herself comfortably, "so what do I need to do?"

The captain sighed and sat down nearby, "do you remember when you felt my riatsu earlier?"

"Yes, it was cold,"

"That's an understatement," the redhead muttered as she took the plates out, Karin glared at her before a light cough brought her attention back to the white-haired kid.

"Just do what you did then, close your eyes and try to feel my riatsu."

What HAD she done? Well it had been a little obvious that time. The cougar's riatsu had been easy to sense because they were in contact, but she'd just been quiet and listened. Was that it?

"I just need to listen for it?"

"Just be aware of what's going on around you," his voice was very calm, it seemed he was quite a good teacher, "like you would do if you were trying to work out as much about what was going on around you as possible."

Fair enough. What could she hear? There was Matsumoto moving around in the kitchen, doors opening and shutting as she put away things, for a minute Karin amused herself with identifying whether they were upper or lower cupboards, but she had no way to check really.

In this room there was her own breathing of course. She wondered briefly what her own riatsu felt like, then discarded that idea, if she found that out she'd only ever see her own. A rustle over there, that had to be the cougar turning over. Could she sense its riatsu from here?

No, she was meant to be concentrating on Toushiro. With a frown she tried to concentrate on the space in front of her. Honestly, that guy could at least move to help her focus on him! As it was he may as well not be there!

But she knew he was there didn't she? It felt like there was a pocket of cool air held in a dome. Thinking back to that storm of blue-white snowflakes... if he was like that normally then he must be severely controlling how much of his riatsu showed.

"Found it?"

"Yes, kinda."

"It's useful to memorise the riatsu of people you know," he said, "that way you can keep an eye on them while they're in the area. For example you can tell how a battle's going by the fluctuations in riatsu."

"So you want me to fix you in my mind?"

"Precisely, you probably know Ichigo's subconsciously."

"Yeah, like everything's a little bolder round him, is that it?"

This time there was mild amusement in Hitsugaya's voice, "not how I would put it, but yes."

Well she'd felt him when at full blast and hidden now, she wasn't likely to forget him in a hurry, "I think I've got you."

"Good, now, put in the ear plugs I'm giving you." The coolness drew closer and Karin opened one hand to be rewarded with two small objects before he stood up in a slight rustle of cloth, "track me round the room with your hand."

The girl nodded and put the ear plugs in, falling into eerie silence as all noise was abruptly cut out, so when she spoke her voice sounded strange to her, "Wow, whoever uses these must really get a good night's sleep..."

She could almost have sworn Hitsugaya smirked at that before moving away from her. Karin simply lifted one hand and pointed, sensing his riatsu as he walked round, eyes on her. Good grief, he couldn't have been looking at her while she was trying to find his riatsu, she could _feel_ him watching her!

As she got used to the exercise she started to identify the other two presences, one like burnt orange, ashy and sleek at the same time, the other was strange, shifting between tan cloth and light golden wind. One was normal, the other was far too _pure_ to be the same kind of thing. As she tried to focus harder she was oblivious to the world swirling around her, she just needed to reach a little further and she would understand...

Suddenly a hand rested on her shoulder. With a jerk Karin's eyes snapped open to look up at green ones. When had he moved there?!

"Damn you, I almost had it..." she muttered and blinked, "Whoa... dizzy..."

With two quick movements the earplugs were removed, the man looking over to Matsumoto as he gave swift instructions, "...Orihime's room tonight, but get her some green tea first please." His attention returned to the black-haired Kurosaki, who moved his hand from her shoulder and sat upright, shaking her head to rid it of the dizziness, "It seems your lesson will end here for today."

"But I'm not tired!" Karin insisted, "I just tried to probe the cougar again..."

"Didn't you learn from the first time?" he sounded stern, "if the other times leave the people dizzy then trying it again is unlikely to change anything."

"I'm not the kind of person to give up that easily!" she retorted with a glare as she stood up to yell, "I'm sure we can see what's going on if we just try a little harder! If you're just going to stand around being useless then you're never going to get anywhere!"

Hitsugaya looked as emotionless as ever as he waited for her to stop shouting, only serving to make Karin angrier, though by this time she had ran out of words and simply stood there breathing heavily. The white-haired kid simply looked out the window.

"Are you finished?"

The girl opened her mouth to yell again, then let the breath out, balling her hands into fists. It wasn't like shouting would do anything, and he didn't even seem to be getting angry.

"Then listen to me," he looked back at her, eyes cool as ever, "If you had tried to go any further into reaching the source of the riatsu you would probably have fainted. It was only because I woke you up that you didn't fall over and you're not steady even now."

Karin blinked and looked down at the floor, okay, so maybe he had a point about the last part...

"So you're saying it's a good thing I stopped?"

"Yes, and your mind is also tired, you've worn yourself out by doing something so concentrated with your abilities."

"But I sensed you with no problem earlier..." she felt herself swaying before she caught herself and stood up straight again, noticing the captain was watching her a little too carefully.

"That wasn't a conscious effort," he told her before frowning slightly, "can you make it to the other room?"

"Honestly, I'm not so exhausted that I can't even walk!" she reprimanded him sharply as she turned and strode across the room, completely forgetting about the sleeping cougar until she walked straight into it and tripped.

The cat itself was immediately startled out of sleep with a surprised noise and shot away from under her, meaning Karin could now bring her foot forward and catch herself before she fell over...

Except that she wasn't falling any more. There was a blur of white and then an arm around her shoulders keeping her in place. With a sense of inevitability she looked sideways to see he was looking sideways at _her_ with a raised eyebrow.

"Okay, okay, so there's no need to GLOAT about it," she growled as she let him guide her towards the other room.

"I didn't say anything."

"You didn't need to, your face said it all for you," she muttered murderously before he removed the supporting arm and let her sit down on the bed.

"Matsumoto's bringing you some tea, I suggest you drink it and then get some rest. Tomorrow is the weekend, so sleep all you need," he said calmly before turning and leaving, closing the door to leave her in darkness.

"Honestly... acting like I'd sleep until mid-day," Karin grumbled as she turned over onto her side and closed her eyes, "I always get up early to go to practice..."

When Matsumoto looked in a few minutes later the girl was already fast asleep, leading the woman to quietly back out of the room and close the door, drinking the tea herself.

The white haired Captain was not expecting to be woken by a gentle nuzzle against the back of his head. For a moment he didn't remember about the cougar and shot upright before he realised who his 'attacker' was. With a sigh he rubbed his eyes free of sleep and glared at the animal.

"And so we start the day with the newest member of my squad, lovely," he murmured, "Normally it's Matsumoto who needs waking up, not me."

The cougar simply turned and walked out with a swish of her tail to sit next to where the redhead was cooking bacon, Hitsugaya dressing and then settling at the table. It was nice like this, calming. Almost like it would have been without the war...

Suddenly all three heads snapped round in unison with a growl from the cougar, focussing intently on the surge of riatsu nearby.

"Feels like Arrancar, Espada?"

"I hope not, but it probably is."

"We've got to keep her safe," they both looked at the cat, who growled at the floor, then Matsumoto's mouth slipped into a smile,

"She looks just like Ichigo when he's been silly enough to get injured and is kicking himself for being useless."

Hitsugaya's face slipped into a frown again, another piece of evidence that she was too human. "Let's go."

"But Taicho, we can't just leave them here without a guard!"

"We'll have to," he replied, face grim, "I can feel multiple sources of riatsu, each equally strong. Ikkaku and the others are already on the move to fight them."

"Then we need to go, at least raise a barrier?"

"Not needed, they're as safe as can be expected if they just stay here and she's not going to go far with that foot." The shinigami vanished, leaving the house empty but for their gigai's and the cougar.

...and the human girl who they'd forgotten about in Orihime's room. With a yawn the door slid open as she rubbed her eyes sleepily, looking around for the others, "Guys? I smell bacon..."

A noise from below made her look down, seeing the cougar heading into the kitchen and looking at her expectantly. "Where are the others?" The cougar looked out the window before back to Karin.

"They can't have been gone long though, the bacon's still... the bacon!" Karin dashed to the pan and hastily turned over the bacon, narrowly escaping burning the lot. A few minutes later she put some on her plate, the rest being put into a bowl in front of the cougar, who happily tucked in.

"I'm not a good cook, I warn you," she said before happily tucking into her bacon sandwich. Once it had gone (a surprisingly short time later) she looked down to the cougar to find it looking at the empty bowl a little sorrowfully.

"Well sorry, I just gave you what was in the pan after I had some," Karin said with a shrug, "but I guess you need more to eat don't you?"

Surprisingly the cougar shook its head at this, standing to allow Karin to collect the bowl and start the washing up before wandering over to the window and rearing up to rest paws on the windowsill of the main room. When she was done Karin joined her, "So they're that way, huh?"

A nod, then it looked back up at her expectantly.

"There's no way we're going to follow them," Karin said firmly, glaring at the cougar, "That's just _asking_ for trouble."

"You seem to have a knack for attracting it anyway," Someone cooly replied, the cougar spinning with a growl to place herself firmly in front of Karin. Great, she was being protected. Again. She REALLY needed to learn how to kick some evil behind.

"Oh come on, why the distrustful look?" The man standing opposite her looked almost like a black-haired version of her brother, complete with the black kimono. "It's not like I've come to kill you or anything. The captain said I needed to take you guys back to Soul society due to the Arrancar attack."

The girl hesitated. Soul society? Was that where they were all from? She hadn't heard any of them mention the name, and it sounded like he expected her to already know what everything was. Typical Toushiro for you, he WOULD order something like...

Another growl from the cougar caught the girl's attention and she looked down. The sandy fur was bristling with hatred for apparently no reason, what was Karin missing? "I'm sorry, but what was your name?" She asked politely, trying to stall for time, "I can't quite remember who he said was going to pick me up..."

"They're all a bit tied up right now," he apologised, "the attack was worse than they expected. If you would calm the cat down, shall we go?" He offered a hand to her with a grin. With this response her opinion was set, this guy, whoever or whatever he was, was faking it. But there was no reason she couldn't try and get a bit more information about his true intentions, it might also prevent his attack for a bit longer...

"I don't know really..." Karin bit her lip as she looked down at the cougar, "I mean she's not mine, she doesn't calm down very easily... Do you know what might have worried her about you? She's quite intelligent, so if you explain...?"

"Heh, I dunno, maybe she's just not used to me?" he glanced towards the battle, "We really should get going, forgive me, but I don't want to be killed by the captain if you two end up caught in the battle."

"I guess that's fair enough but he would kill _me_ if I left with the wrong person," Karin pointed out emphatically, "Just go on ahead, he knows how stubborn I am so you won't get in trouble."

"And I told you I can't do that!" He glared fiercely at it, "can't you just do something to calm it down? It feels like it's going to tear out my throat any minute!"

"Oh chill out," Karin shot out, not entirely sure which of them she was talking to, "The battle should be done soon so let's just leave it." Why was neither of the other two attacking? The impostor wasn't so that he wouldn't be figured out... was the cougar not moving for the same reason?

A glance told her otherwise. While she was still there was no indication that she was injured, but as soon as she attacked her weakness would be seen and manipulated. But the cougar had fought while injured before, did that mean she couldn't beat this one while injured without risking Karin? Sometimes she just wished the cat could talk...

The man smirked, "Well it seems we'll just have to do this the less polite way then..."


	10. The Cougar's Shift

Yeah, I know, it's not Saturday, however it has been a rather exceptional week with exams, a friend visit, end of term events, nearly getting stuck in another city and the internet only working for a minute at a time. However I am here now!

Thanks for putting up with me guys, I don't own Bleach...

Enjoy!

* * *

_﻿The man smirked, "Well it seems we'll just have to do this the less polite way then..."_

Karin and the cougar split to either side as the man attacked, drawing his blade while moving to slash at where they'd been, turning to find that once more the cougar was squarely in the way.

"Oh you are REALLY annoying me..." he muttered, jumping at the cat, who hopped to the side and gave him a heavy slam across the head, drawing no blood despite the deep scratches. Karin frowned, was that even possible?

"Heh, I see you told me the truth," the man said, grinning as the scratches started to fuse back together in front of their eyes, "She really IS intelligent, and there was me thinking you were the main threat here. You had me ratted out from the start didn't you, little kitty? Not to mention you seem to know about me..."

Okay that was it, Karin was going to teach this loser what it meant to patronise her. A pity there wasn't much you could kick at someone in an apartment. If she could just get close enough she could deliver a kick directly but she would have to rely on the cougar acting as a distraction...

The cougar leapt again, once more aiming for the man's head, but instead or aiming to scratch him she simply knocked him towards the window and back off, carefully keeping the injured foot away from contact and relying on her powerful back legs.

"Seems I'm not the only one who knows the other's weakness," he murmured, "an injured foot huh? Lucky for me..."

This time the man attacked first, the cougar scrabbling away from the attacks and towards the window, turning with a snarl so that she was lit from behind, sandy fur glowing a bright gold as she snarled at the Arrancar, who scowled, but didn't approach.

What was there about the window that he didn't like? The human shifted around the room, apparently unnoticed by either combatant as the man's sword skill started to overpower the cougar, starting to nip and bite at the cat's sides.

With a rush of energy Karin was behind him, leaping up to bring her leg round, frowning fiercely with the energy flaring blue behind it as the foot made contact with the thing's head.

In an explosion of riatsu the two flew apart, the man straight through where the cougar now wasn't and colliding with the window with scream and a crash of glass as Karin slammed painfully backwards into the wall and slid down. When she could move she looked up at the shards scattering around its.... its.... did that even _count_ as a head?

"I really ought to congratulate you," the thing murmured, one of the small shrivelled heads turning to look at Karin, "I wouldn't have expected your attack to make me move at all."

"You mean it didn't hurt?"

"Nope!" BOTH the mini-heads were laughing as the 'skin' started to reform when he stepped back into the relative shadow of the room, voice wavering before returning to the man's one he had been using.

"The sunlight made me wince a bit, sure, but the kick didn't do anything much really. Oh, apart from reminding me to erase your existence, did I miss that?"

There was a split second of hesitation before Karin and the cougar fled, shooting towards the ladder to the skylight as a wave of water shot towards her. She swore she had NEVER ran as fast in her life as she did just then, seeming to miss a few steps in her haste to get up the ladder and out of the skylight, rolling to the side as the blast shot out behind her.

As quickly as she rolled she was back onto her feet, panting slightly as she stood, eyes on the skylight, where sedately, serenely, a long tubular head was beginning to emerge. "It's only the melting of the form that annoys me a little," he commented, "but once it's gone I'm completely fine, aren't you lucky?"

"Like hell, you dirty little..."

The arrancar burst out laughing, low and high voices trilling in unison before he calmed down. "Now really, is that any way to be treating a guest? After all an annoyed guest could completely obliterate you."

Karin would not have managed to avoid the blast of water if the cougar hadn't thrown herself into the girl for the second time in as many days. However this time the cougar was hit by the most of the blast, letting out a throaty roar of pain as they both tumbled to the side and towards the edge, Karin hastily thrusting out her feet to stop them from both leaving the rooftop.

"And thus the Hero syndrome strikes again," the higher-pitched voice said with a sigh, before adding a disbelieving tone to its voice as the cat found its feet and stood once more, though breathing heavily. "I'm impressed you can still stand, I can see that your side's been blasted raw under that fur. You could just make it easy for yourself you know..."

The cat's eyes flared an angry gold as it roared, fur rising and drifting in the wind as the roar dimmed to a continuous snarl. Karin took a subconscious step backwards and away from the cougar as the wind grew stronger. This was not normal, even for the world she had discovered it wasn't normal for the cat to do this.

The Espada simply laughed, "Well well, it seems the fight hasn't gone out of it after all, let's see the how long your puny protector lasts this time!"

"I really don't think..." Karin started before her next words were cut off by an explosion of riatsu/anger at the other man's words, the cougar's form blurring in the powerful wind blasting in from every side.

If she had to describe it the Kurosaki would probably start with saying how it felt like eyes snapping open and flaring, then how there was the sensation of unfolding as light rippled into existence, forming into a curling net over the cougar's body.

As the power inside the fur spread again the swirls seemed to lose their grip on the cougar, rising off the fur in a translucent net before evaporating under the heat of the anger coming from the cat.

Once the mesmerising curls had faded from sight Karin jerked her eyes back down to the woman left standing there, recognising the long golden coat and dark hair tossing in the remnants of the wind as she clamped one arm to her side.

"I really should thank you," the stranger stated, words slightly tinged with anger as she spoke, "you managed to get me angry enough to throw off the Shift."

"So you're the cat?" The Arrancar shrugged, "It makes no difference to me what form you're in..."

"It should," she commented with a hunter's grin, wind vanishing entirely as she calmed. "I can't use magic when I'm stuck like that."

"I knew it was you!" Karin said triumphantly, "your coat's the same colour as your fur and eyes."

The woman looked over her shoulder, hazel eyes smiling as she flashed a grin at the girl, "Thanks for helping me, the Shift does strange things to the mind/world barrier."

"HEY! Are we having a battle here or not?" the Arrancar protested, the woman turning back to face him as he shouted, "I can't believe you think you have a chance when you're injured like that!"

The woman simply grinned, "Then try and attack me."

Karin winced, even SHE knew better than to attack someone if they invited you to! Yet the Arrancar lifted a hand, a ball of dense energy forming that caused Karin to shudder internally. That thing felt... really, really _sick_, in the stomach turning way.

The woman turned slightly, inclining her shoulder towards the enemy while keeping his gaze. For a moment the air in front of her shimmered golden and Karin frowned, trying to make out shapes in the barely noticeable tint before it vanished.

"Is that it?" the Arrancar threw his head back and laughed, shooting his hand open to release the blast towards them with frightening speed.


	11. Actually you're bleeding

We're getting towards the end now! Not many chapters left to go. (Still don't ownBleach)

You may be wondering about how I relate to Estantia, truthfully, neither the character nor me wanted to use their true name... and we both simultaneously borrowed it from a character in another of my stories because it means guide/guiding _(Estan)_ star _(tia)_. It fits all three of us and it stuck. The irony being that now we are far more 'Estantia' than the original owner of the name

Anyway, enjoy!

* * *

"_Is that it?" the Espada threw his head back and laughed, shooting his hand open to release the Cero towards them with frightening speed._

As soon as it was released the air shifted, the barely visible tint resolving itself into feather patterns, then a half-transparent wing large enough to shield them entirely. With another ripple of movement, the wing shifted to deflect the energy from the Cero upwards rather then streaming to either side, harmlessly shooting into the sky.

In the silence afterwards the mage calmly allowed the wing to fade, watching the Espada with a slight smile. As Karin watched the translucent wing fade she suddenly realised that the woman herself hadn't actually moved a muscle. Karin raised an eyebrow, it may have been showing off, but she grudgingly admitted it WAS kind of stylish.

"No words? Not even movement?" the Arrancar said with a frown, " What kind of power IS this? No wonder Aizen-sama wants it..."

"It's called magic," she said flatly, "and Aizen's not going to get it, especially now I'm back to normal, so you can buzz off."

"Oh I'm sure he'll think of some way," her opponent commented, drawing his blade and preparing to attack when he seemed to hear something. With a noise of annoyance he slid the sword back into its sheath.

"It seems we're not going to finish this today," he said slowly as columns of light broke out over the city, "But trust me, this won't be the last you see of us."

The woman's reply was so quiet that even Karin had to strain to hear her mutter, "But it will be last that _we_ see of _you_."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Karin asked when the Arrancar had vanished, "and why didn't you follow him?"

"Because it wouldn't have done anything, besides, you really want me going into their base like this?" she replied, looking back at the girl with a strained smile before sitting down heavily. "Heh... I know I'm not good at staying angry for long, but breaking the Shift really takes it out of you..."

"You're not going to die on me are you?" Karin asked warily, sitting down to get a better look at the woman before she smiled and shook her head.

"No, just pass out and sleep for a bit. Hey, look, the others are back," she added absent-mindedly as her eyes closed, slipping into a peaceful sleep.

The Kurosaki girl shielded her eyes against the light, blinking a bit as several figures touched down on the roof next to them, most of them looking at the gold-coated girl.

"What happened?" Hitsugaya asked simply, beating everyone else who was about to speak.

"There was one of those Arrancar things, it appeared in the house as a person and tried to get us to go with it, but it ended up as a fight. The window's broken, and I think one of the cushions got hit before we came up here, oh, and the apartment's soaked," she added as an afterthought, remembering their escape.

"And her?"

"She's the cougar," Karin said with a grin, "she mentioned something called the Shift that meant she couldn't use magic or talk to the real world properly, but don't quote me on that."

"Are you hurt?"

"She's still got the broken leg, I mean arm, there are several small cuts from his sword and she got blasted down the side with high pressure water."

"I asked about you, not her."

"Fine, I got slammed into a wall, but apart from that, I'm good."

"Actually her feet, your feet and your back are bleeding slightly," Matsumoto cut in, "You didn't notice?"

"I was concentrating on other things! Not where the broken glass might be!" Karin pointed out, "Besides, I can't feel anything."

"Right. Matsumoto, get Soul society to send a regular healer here NOW. Yumichika, carry the woman downstairs. Karin, let me pick you up please."

"What?"

He rolled his eyes, "Your feet are bleeding, Kurosaki. Walking on them will push the glass in deeper."

"There is no way you are going to carry me."

"Would you prefer Yumichika?"

Karin hesitated, she'd heard about the feathered boy who'd wandered into Yuzu's textiles class and promptly taken over the lesson.

"If you drop me you're dead."

"I already am."

"I HATE arguing with dead people," she muttered as she felt cool arms slip round her waist and under her knees, neatly lifting her off the floor with as little fuss as could be possible. It was almost unnerving how efficiently he did that, so Karin made sure to kick him lightly in the shin as she settled herself.

"You wouldn't think you're strong enough to do that, or tall enough," Karin commented, trying to needle him as she was forced to lean against his chest, biting her lip slightly as the adrenalin faded. Okay, she could feel the glass in her feet now...

"I'm taller than you are," he said calmly, "and as you are horizontal... What are you doing?" he asked with a raised eyebrow as she put an arm round his shoulders and boosted herself a little more upright.

"Retaining what dignity I can, besides, it keeps your hand away from the back wound."

"Actually, sitting vertically..."

"I'm not going to be carried like an invalid!" she snapped, black eyes meeting emerald hotly for a moment before jerking away, "I've just seen too many people carried like they're dead, and it's just some glass in my feet."

The captain nodded simply and crossed to the skylight, practically floating down through it and landing neatly on the sparkling floor below. Karin blinked, glass over here?

"The water will have carried the glass all the way down the corridor," he sighed, "excellent, I'll tell everyone not to take their shoes off until it's cleaned."

"She let you carry her while she was conscious?" Matsumoto asked with a raised eyebrow as the white haired boy entered the bedroom and gently deposited her on the bed next to where the other woman slept, "What did you do?"

"Gave me the option of feather boy," Karin muttered in reply, causing the orange-haired woman to laugh.

"I need to remember to use that threat sometime!"

"Matsumoto..."

"I've already called them, but what are we going to do about Karin? We can't get them to heal her and they really won't like her being here with everything going on."

"My family DO run a clinic," Karin pointed out, "and broken glass is explained easily enough."

"The back injury isn't though," Hitsugaya replied, "I tried to examine it on the way down and although doesn't seem too bad we need to get a better look"

"Are you telling me to take my top off?"

The captain _twitched_ as his Lieutenant dissolved into hysterics. "No, I'm telling you to lie on your front on the bed. Matsumoto has some healing abilities, as do I, but we need to get to the wound."

"Which requires me to lift my top..."

"Kurosaki, stop being difficult and do it," he ordered, walking out the room, "I'm going to check how far the broken glass travelled."

Matusumoto looked sideways at the black haired girl once the door closed while suppressing a laugh, "Were you deliberately trying to wind him up?"

"He beat me in an argument and carried me downstairs, what did you expect?" she added with a grin as she laid on her front, "Did I hit a picture or something?"

"I think so, knowing your luck, the one with the frame Orihime made that has a nail sticking out of one corner." Matsumoto said with a sigh, "So tell me what happened. Properly, as in ALL the details, I want to be able to give a full report."


	12. Questions

It's a saturday, and here is the penultimate part of Karakura's Cougar! If you have any questions do ask, I love to hear what you think :D Also, after this is completed you're unlikely to see much out of me for a while, I've mostly been doing stuff for my roleplaying characters rahter than fanfiction or art, and that all goes on my DeviantArt account. If you have time feel free to check it out, I'm Estantia there too.

Still don't own Bleach ^_^' Anyway, enjoy!

* * *

"So that's what happened." The tenth Captain frowned as Matsumoto finished giving her report from where she was comfortably perched on the bed, having delivered Karin to her father (the Kurosaki had outright refused to let Toushiro do it ). "What do you make of her?"

"We know she's not out to harm us at least," she replied, "After all, she protected Karin, ratted out the Arrancar... All the stuff she's done basically proves she's a good guy."

"But she knows too much," he stated, "she knew who we are AND who they are. Someone that powerful with that knowledge could do a lot of damage. We need to find out where she got that knowledge from."

"That's another thing," the red-head commented, "the necklace she's wearing is bothering me. It looks familiar but I can't remember where I've seen it."

"Take a picture of it and ask Urahara about it then, if it's an important artefact of some kind he'll be able to identify it," he ordered, his lieutenant giving a single nod before doing so, leaving him free to walk over and take a look at the woman himself. Hm, maybe he could try...

He placed a hand on the woman's shoulder, closing his eyes before feeling for her riatsu. As he thought, the trapping effect had all pretty much vanished, giving him a plain view of the two-tone riatsu, though now it felt like one smooth whole rather than disjointed parts.

"Taicho!"

The boy turned, "Urahara's replied already?"

His lieutenant nodded and held up her phone, "Apparently it was in a booklet that got posted through the letterbox one day, no records from Soul Society or anything, just this little thing that looked like junk mail. He filed it because it had a few of the noble relics in that had been missing for ages."

"So it's reliable in a sense at least," he murmured, glancing at the sleeping woman for a moment, "What does it say?"

"That it's pretty powerful and at least partially sentient," she replied, "with the rest form as we see it now and an official form. Apparently it's the symbol of office of the Great Guide, so you can generally trust the person wearing it."

At this point her Captain cut in with a frown, "But if someone just took it then they could masquerade as them. Trusting someone just because they wear a particular necklace..."

"Erm, yes, there's a warning about that," Matsumoto admitted, "it says that taking it away from the owner is a really bad idea because then the seriously angry mage it belongs to comes to get it back..."

He lifted a hand to silence Matsumoto, "I think I get the idea. But why should we trust a booklet?"

"Because it's right about other stuff no-one could know about and it arrived about four hours after the postman with no-one in sight?" the redhead retorted as she went to sit on the bed next to the other woman, "Besides, she saved Karin twice and let us look after her when she was a cougar, somehow I doubt she's out to get us."

"That may be true, but a fully empowered mage is rather different to a limping cougar."

"Who was thinking like a human, a smart one too," Matsumoto reminded him, "besides, she's already an honourary Squad 10 member."

"At least a human makes more sense than a cat."

The white-haired captain blinked and looked at the woman, unsurprised to find hazel eyes looking back at him. "I see you're awake."

"Yes, thank you," she replied politely before yawning and attempting to sit up, yelping at the restrictive bandages around her tors. Matsumoto supported her almost immediately and received a smile from the woman before they noticed the Captain's expression,

"Oh, questions..."

"Yes." Hitsugaya's tone was level, but didn't seem overly harsh, "Who are you and what are you doing here?"

"I'm Estantia, someone called the Great Guide, which basically means I wander round helping people," she explained with a wince, "I wasn't intending to get stuck."

"Yes, Karin mentioned that. Care to explain why you were here in the first place?" his tone was clipped and the woman winced.

"Originally it was to meet you guys, I have a feeling we're going to need to work together in the future," she explained, "but because you guys are kind of suspicious I thought I'd best introduce myself now and let you see who I am BEFORE that happens."

"Well that doesn't make much more sense than believing a booklet," Hitsugaya murmured before the mage perked up,

"A booklet?"

"Apparently you're not the only one who knows everything," he commented, "Urahara received some anonymous junk mail detailing the secrets of many magical items, yours included."

The woman seemed surprised, "Wow, it's been while since one of them got somewhere before me..."

A frown, "You know about it?"

"Yes, the person who writes it runs a shop that draws lost things like that towards it. My necklace ended up there at one point after it was stolen and then dumped in a swamp," she replied as she carefully shifted her coat to try and get a better look at her side. The woman then started to examine her own arm to see the extent of the injuries.

"You shouldn't be moving around before a healer's seen you," Matsumoto reprimanded her, trying to put a gentle pressure on the woman's shoulder to make her lie down, getting a mild glare in reply.

"Don't worry, I'm a healer among other things, I won't make myself worse."

"But you will get rid of the reason for the request into the 10th in the first place," she pointed out just as quickly, "so you're going to need to be injured a bit longer."

"At least let me get rid of the glass bits still in my feet?" she asked with a glance downwards, "I think you got most of them but..."

"Do you _know_ how fiddly those bandages were to put on?"


	13. Hai, Taicho!

Here we are! The last Saturday, the last chapter of Karakura's Cougar. As I said before, there may not be anything from me for a while, but I hope you've enjoyed my story!

Thank you to everyone who reviewed! I love all you guys, and I'd love to hear feedback on what I could have done better :D

For the final time this story: I do not own Bleach. So now, on with the chapter, enjoy and I'll see you round! *Salutes, grins and vanishes*  


* * *

Hitsugaya retreated from the room as the banter continued, crossing to the room with the communication screen and waiting, glancing at his phone occasionally. It wasn't long before it buzzed into life, the worn face of the Captain-commander searching his own.

"Hitsugaya-Taicho, have you found any trace of Inoue Orihime in the real world?"

"None, commander," he admitted, "however the woman we requested to become an honourary member has woken up, though she still requires the fourth squad's attention she is at least not in grave danger."

"Name?"

"Estantia, Commander. She was willing to give us the information we asked for and it matched up with the previous statements and observations, including the information Urahara discovered."

The old man was silent for some time, eyes closed in thought before he spoke again, "Do you think this would be a good move to make?"

"She is intelligent, powerful and has shown on several occasions that she can be trusted to protect others," the white haired Captain said eventually, mind flicking through the number of Captains they'd been through recently, "Though it could be that she simply wanted to make us trust her."

"You are still sceptical?"

"I should be, yet I believe she is trustworthy, and as an honourary member she would not be able to amass any great amount of influence among the Shinigami anyway."

"Then I shall approve it," he said firmly, giving a nod to someone off screen, "But you shall take full responsibility for any actions she may take against Soul society, is that clear?"

"Yes Commander."

"A team will arrive shortly to take her to the Fourth Division for treatment, though any recovery will take place in the 10th squad barracks. Also, when Ichigo is conscious you shall call a meeting for him and your squad to discuss what our next actions will be. Do you understand?"

"Yes Commander."

"Excellent," he replied with a curt nod before the channel cut and Hitsugaya relaxed, rubbing his forehead briefly. He was not looking forward to dealing with Ichigo when they informed him Orihime had vanished...

"Taicho? Do you have a headache?"

The short Captain turned to see his lieutenant leaning against the door frame with a look of concern, one he responded to with a light shake of the head. "Did she attempt to heal herself?"

"I didn't give her the chance," Matsumoto said with a mischievous grin, "by the time she wakes up she'll be in the fourth squad barracks and tended well."

"Matsumoto you did NOT use Kido on her in that state?"

"Only AFTER she fell asleep, which may or may not have had something to do with chocolate bribery."

A raised eyebrow. "Do you use the sweets Ukitake-Taicho gives me this way often?"

"Well _you_ don't eat it, and besides, the Shinigami Women's Association needs to have snacks at the meetings for Yachiru."

Her Captain sighed, rubbing his forehead again in thought and briefly tugging on the front part of his hair before looking up at her, "Why isn't he just authorising a team of healers to treat everyone?" Hitsugaya muttered, mostly to himself, "instead he just collects her and takes her back to Soul Society. Why? What is he planning?" Another tug before he sighed and strode out of the room frowning in thought.

* * *

Blink. Blink. Slow blink. Wooden ceiling, lying on her back in bed. Hm, she never fell asleep on her back.

Her head flopped to one side to see a plain but serviceable room. At a guess she was somewhere in Soul society judging by the air. Time for mental checklist of injuries. Torso? Some kind of salve on her sides and bandages to hold it in place. Feet, she hoped there were no bits of glass seeing as they were also bandaged. Her arm felt funny, splint? It had been _ages_ since she'd had a splint, or a sling.

"How are you feeling?"

"Like I've just had a big healing," she responded automatically, flopping her head over to the other side and blinking.

"Aren't you meant to be in the real world?" she asked the 10th squad Captain curiously.

"You've been sleeping for a while, we were ordered to return and make preparations for the Arrancar's attack on Karakura town," he replied simply, "Of course no-one seriously expects Ichigo not to go to Hueco Mundo, whether he's been ordered to go or not."

The mage blinked again, "Well at least I know where in the timeline I am."

"Timeline?"

"I should explain," she said, trying not to meet his eye, "well, you see I'm not _precisely_ from this world..."

There was a pause and the white-haired Captain folded his arms, "I am interested to see how you try to explain this."

"You know you have soul society and the real world?" a nod, "now take it another step up, you have your universe as one bubble, then mine as another one over here, a third there, and the stories in each universe are a reflection of the others. As the Great Guide it's my job to travel between them and help, but I can't change the important stuff, so I can't tell you what's going to happen unless I've already told you."

"So that's how you knew about us. I see," Hitsugaya turned to stare out of a window briefly, "This isn't a threat to Seireitei?"

"If it was you'd have heard of it before now from someone much nastier than me," she replied simply, "it's just a natural phenomenon."

"I see."

He was silent for a few minutes more until the mage tried to lean up on one elbow, then laid back down with a sigh as her sides protested and the splint got caught up in the sheets.

"Can I start healing myself please?"

He blinked, apparently he had forgotten she was there, "Do not overexert yourself or give others any reason to be more suspicious than they already are. When will you be able to train with us?"

"Pretty soon, that nap means I'm essentially back to normal."

"Good," he turned back, eyes cool and calm, "I will give you three days, recover by then and be at the training room for quarter past 6 so we can see what you are capable of."

"Hai, Taicho," the newest almost-member of his squad replied with a grin.


End file.
